METALLICA's KIRK HAMMETT Selling San Francisco Home For $16 Million

According to Curbed San Francisco, METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett is selling a house in Sea Cliff, a neighborhood in northwestern San Francisco, California, for $16 million. Hammett's name apparently does not appear on the deed for the Spanish Colonial-style home, which last sold in 2010 for $8 million. When you adjust for inflation, that itself was roughly double its 2003 sale price of $3.1 million. The four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom, three-story house is said to be the fourth most expensive, publicly listed home in the entire city. Back in 2009, Hammett sold a home in Pacific Heights for $7.6 million after owning it for sixteen years. He bought that 8-bedroom, 8.5-bathroom, 10,100-square-foot, four-story mansion in 1993 for a mere $2.56 million. METALLICA's latest album, "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct", debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart, selling 291,000 copies in its first week of release. METALLICA will head out on a major world tour in support of the set next year, with North American dates rumored to begin in the spring.

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RUDY SARZO: RONNIE JAMES DIO 'Was The Most Musically Trained Singer I've Ever Worked With'

Legendary bassist Rudy Sarzo (QUIET RIOT, OZZY OSBOURNE, WHITESNAKE, DIO) was interviewed on a recent episode of "Cover Your Ears", the podcast hosted by Brian Geller, the lead singer of the ATOMIC PUNKS. You can now listen to the chat below. Asked what the first thing is that comes to mind when someone mentions Ronnie James Dio's name, Sarzo said: "The first is hard to put it into words, because it would be a combination of what made Ronnie so magical. It was his kindness, humble[ness] and ferocity and talent. So many things, 'cause we're talking about a multi-dimensional performer [and] human being." He continued: "When I first joined [DIO] in 2004, I'd already been around for over twenty years and I thought, 'Wow…' I'd experienced just about everything, and playing with Ronnie was a whole new set of information; I learned so much from him. Especially at a time when a lot of bands had stopped creating music because of piracy and everything else, Ronnie never stopped writing, composing on his own. He had a project studio at his house, and I kind of taught him the fundamentals of Pro Tools, and he picked it up so quick — within a week, he was up and running all by himself, recording everything. Sarzo added: "Ronnie was the most musically trained singer I've ever worked with, 'cause he started out as a concert trumpet player. He wanted to be… back in the… a long time ago, in the early '60s, a concert trumpet player. And then he started playing rock and roll. As a matter of fact, he toured… Dick Clark's Caravan [Of Stars], where he was, like, in the backing band with artists like Dionne Warwick and Gene Pitney… whatever were the Top 10 artists of the day. Dick Clark used to put those tours on the road in a big old Greyhound bus where everybody sat on the bus and then went to a hotel and you did about six or eight shows a day. Everybody sang their hits. That was basically his musical background. Then he became a bass player in ELF. He had RONNIE [DIO] AND THE PROPHETS. But he was always a musician. And then he became a lead singer. And he was an English major, so writing was so natural for him, as a poet [and] as a composer. As a matter of fact, when he passed away, he was finishing his book, his memoir, by hand — no typewriter, no laptop; writing longhand. Yeah, [it was] amazing." Since the early 1980s, Sarzo has played with some of the biggest bands and artists in hard rock and heavy metal, including OZZY OSBOURNE (alongside renowned guitarist Randy Rhoads), QUIET RIOT, WHITESNAKE, DIO and Geoff Tate's version of QUEENSRŸCHE, not to mention a five-year stint with hard rock juggernauts BLUE ÖYSTER CULT. Sarzo in 2006 published "Off The Rails", a book about his time with Osbourne and Rhoads. Interview (audio):

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AT THE GATES Members Launch THE LURKING FEAR

AT THE GATES members Tomas Lindberg (vocals) and Adrian Erlandsson (drums) have joined forces with Jonas Stålhammar (guitar; THE CROWN), Fredrik Wallenberg (guitar; SKITSYSTEM) and Andreas Axelsson (bass; DISFEAR) in a brand new band called THE LURKING FEAR. According to the new group's official mission statement, "THE LURKING FEAR is bringing sheer, natural weirdness and horror back to the scene, as we want our death metal ugly, twisted and possessed. "Riffs should stir up real feelings of repulsion, and disgust deep down in your soul, and vocals should sounds like hounds of hell howling at the moon." THE LURKING FEAR is: * Tomas Lindberg (AT THE GATES) - Vocals * Jonas Stålhammar (THE CROWN) - Guitar * Fredrik Wallenberg (SKITSYSTEM) - Guitar * Andreas Axelsson (DISFEAR) – Bass * Adrian Erlandsson (AT THE GATES, THE HAUNTED) - Drums Art by Branca Studios

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METALLICA's ROBERT TRUJILLO On Performing Live: 'I Just Sort Of Let The Show Come To Me'

On November 30, 94.9 The Rock's Doug Elliott conducted an interview with METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You can now watch the chat below. Asked how he prepares for METALLICA's live performances, Trujillo said: "For me, what I've been doing lately is I just sort of let the show come to me. Of course, you stretch out, you get ready, you go through your routine. I'm the first one in the jam room, and I'm just basically there kind of reconnecting with the instrument, maybe going over some parts and stuff like that. And then James [Hetfield, METALLICA frontman] is always the second one in, so it's always James and I in there first. And Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] is the last guy in. Sometimes he waits a while before he goes through his routine and he finally shows up. And then we get the set, 'cause Lars finetunes the set and kind of decides what we would be playing. But with all that, once you hit the stage, you can sort of force it, or you can find your niche and your groove and pace yourself. And rather than just being crazy and aggro and getting tense in throwing that all in there, I like the show to come to me, and then I like to naturally develop it and get in the zone, you know what I mean?" As previously reported, Ulrich told Canada's iHeartRadio that METALLICA hopes to bring back its Orion Music + More festival during the upcoming tour cycle for its new album, "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct". Ulrich explained: "We sort of put that on the backburner when we dove into the record. But I think that we're gonna tour for years on this record. We just put most of '17 together, but we'll be out on this baby at least up through '19, would be my guess. So I think we'll try to get another Orion in." METALLICA staged two editions of the Orion festival, in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 2012 and then on Belle Isle in Detroit in 2013. The latter event drew 40,000 fans over two days to see METALLICA, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, DEFTONES, SILVERSUN PICKUPS and more. Ulrich added in his interview that the band could look at launching Orion in Europe, Canada or Mexico. METALLICA will launch a world tour in support of "Hardwired...To Self-Destruct" early next year. Ulrich guessed that Orion could come back in 2018 or 2019. "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct" debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart, selling 291,000 copies in its first week of release.

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MAX CAVALERA On SEPULTURA: 'Tell Me One Great Song They Have Written Since I Left'

Former SEPULTURA member Max Cavalera (guitar, vocals) spoke to Metal Rules about the "Return To Roots" tour during which he and his brother Igor are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the band's classic album "Roots" by performing the LP in its entirety. Asked if the tour was something that he and his brother had been planning for a long time, Max responded: "We haven't really planned this for a long time. We've been trying to do the reunion for a long time with the other jackasses. But they don't want to do it. They keep fucking it up, and at one time I called Andreas [Kisser, SEPULTURA guitarist]. I said, 'Let's fucking do it, man.' I got so frustrated. I was just going nowhere with it. Because I want to do it for the fans. So, thank God Gloria [Cavalera, Max's wife and manager] came up with this idea. She was saying, 'How about just you and Igor, just do it yourselves. It's your record, you wrote it. Igor played drums on it. You wrote all the music on it. You sang all the stuff. I think people will like to see it just like this. They don't care about the rest.'" He continued: "I was a little bit apprehensive at first. I was, like, 'I don't know,' and so we did a test. We decided to try it first, so we did a festival in Canada. The show was fucking great. Everybody loved it. And next we did a whole U.S. tour, and it was fantastic. The European tour was all sold out. Like, all the shows were sold out. I don't remember having a full sold-out tour like this ever before; this was, like, the first time, So it was, like, this was a great idea." Max added: "I think most what it works about is, I think a lot of people weren't around when 'Roots' came out, and they want to see it now — a lot of young kids, and a lot of people who were not able to see it back then. It's a bit different, because we play the whole record. So, it's not the 'Roots' tour of '96. Because the 'Roots' tour had all the songs, stuff from 'Beneath The Remains', 'Arise', 'Chaos A.D.' This is just the 'Roots' album first, for an hour and one minute. Then [what] we do with the next half an hour is what I call it our garage time. So, it's us just playing what we love. A couple of songs that we play, like CELTIC FROST's 'Procreation Of the Wicked', it was a B-side of 'Roots'. So, it fits with the 'Roots' theme. Asked if he has gotten any feedback from the SEPULTURA camp about the "Return To Roots" tour and its success, Max said: "I'm sure they are not happy. But no, I haven't heard anything from them. But there's, like, one thing I have to say about those guys. Tell me one great song they have written since I left. Name one great album they have put out after that. I haven't seen anything. I don't know one name of one song as popular as 'Roots Bloody Roots'. So, it just tells me like whatever they are doing, I don't know how they keep on going. I don't think it's working at all. But somehow they keep on going, somehow. It's crazy to me. But we say, just fuck it. Because we got tired of asking them to do reunion and they never wanted to do it. So, I just said… Gloria had the idea. Just do these shows [with] Igor, and we're doing this. Fuck it. I don't give a shit what they say. We're going to do this, and it's great. We don't care what they think or say. They can talk shit if they want to." He continued: "I saw some interview where Andreas was saying something like, ''Roots', it's a very difficult album to play.' No, it's not. I wrote 70 percent of it. It's not difficult to play at all. 'Schizophrenia' is difficult to play, full of different riffs." Kisser told Australia's Loud that he wasn't bothered by the fact that Max and Igor were performing the entire "Roots" album on their tour. "I don't care," he said. "Everyone does whatever they want. If they feel that's good for their career, whatever, man. It doesn't change anything that I do. It's like a… It's weird to comment on something like that, because, for me, it's weird. [Laughs] I don't see the point. They have so many different projects. Actually, they left SEPULTURA for those projects, and now they're playing SEPULTURA. I don't understand that kind of attitude. But whatever, man. I respect any type of opinion, and, of course, I don't agree with them all, but people are free to do whatever they want. You just have to live with the consequences — that's all." "Roots", along with 1993's "Chaos A.D.", is considered SEPULTURA's most commercially successful release, having been certified gold in 2005 by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for U.S. shipments in excess of 500,000 copies. In 1996, Max exited SEPULTURA after the rest of the band fired Max's wife Gloria as their manager. Igor left SEPULTURA in June 2006 due to "artistic differences." His departure from the band came five months after he announced that he was taking a break from SEPULTURA's touring activities to spend time with his second wife and their new son (who was born in January 2006). The current SEPULTURA lineup — featuring Kisser and bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. alongside Derrick Green on vocals and Eloy Casagrande on drums — will release its new studio album, "Machine Messiah", on January 13 via Nuclear Blast.

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Ex-QUEENSRŸCHE Singer GEOFF TATE: 'You Have To Know When To Shut Up Sometimes'

Labtv Ireland recently conducted an interview with former QUEENSRŸCHE and current OPERATION: MINDCRIME vocalist Geoff Tate prior to his December 6 acoustic show at Crane Lane in Cork, Ireland. You can watch the chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On how his recent acoustic shows came together with Irish acoustic group THE BAND ANNA: Geoff: "I needed a break from the drums. [Laughs] Drums are really loud. And I like acoustic music for singing against and with. It's a way that you can really express the songs in a different way. I'm always about looking for different ways to express my music; working with different people, different musicians, different combinations of instruments, that kind of thing. I like to experiment a lot with my music. And some of the best players I've ever seen in my life are from Ireland. Great players who adapt to any kind of situation very easily. They're comfortable playing. They are very free with it. They are very connected into that feeling of…I don't know how to explain it, but it's a certain zone you have to be in. They're fun to play with; really great players. My band is a collection of some local guys from Cork who I met. It's funny — my wife and I were walking through Peace Park in Cork City last summer and we heard this beautiful music being played. So we walked over and were looking for it, and we were standing there watching the band. I'm looking and I recognized the percussionist playing the cajón. I said to my wife, 'Isn't that Nathan Daly? Mark Daly's brother?' She said, 'I think it is!' I went up after they finished the song and sure enough, it was Nathan. The band is called THE BAND ANNA. They're a great band and they're going to be going with me throughout the rest of the year playing our shows in Europe and America." On what it's like for him to live out his musical "dreams": Geoff: "Sometimes it's a lot of work to put together a presentation. You struggle with it for months to try to get the right people involved. Then, getting them up to speed as to what you're looking to do. Other times, it just falls together really easily and you step out of the way and it happens. That's very much the way that this project, this acoustic show has come together. Once I found Nathan's band, THE BAND ANNA, it all fell into place. I gave them a set list of songs I wanted to do, and they turned them into this new kind of thing, a new presentation of the music that is really beautiful. I kinda gave them a lot of leeway to take it the way they felt it. It's kind of like their expression of what I wrote. It's really cool, I think. They've done a great job of it. Sometimes it's like you got to take complete control of things, and other times you step back and let things happen. You got to be able to judge what that time is. To a certain extent, you got to throw all of your trust to the universe and see what happens. I think most of the time the universe won't let you down. [Laughs] Sometimes the universe doesn't give you the answers you expect. You have to learn what those answers mean to you. It's difficult to swallow sometimes. Keeping the ego out of it is a big problem, or the big challenge I should say. [Laughs]" On his philosophy of being a frontman: Geoff: "I don't know if I have a philosophy. I've been playing around with it for years, trying all kinds of different things. I look at music as performance art. You experiment a lot with things. You tell stories about what it is you're doing. You try to get reactions out of people by saying certain things. You try to push their buttons a little bit. Sometimes the song is enough to say everything you want to say. It's fun, I can tell you that. It's always different every night, every audience is different. So you play it by ear a lot to see how audiences react. If you are in certain parts of the world or certain parts of the country, certain things go over really well, and other things don't go over well depending on where you're at. You have to know when to shut up sometimes and not say what's on your mind." "Resurrection", the second album from OPERATION: MINDCRIME, was released on September 23 via Frontiers Music Srl. The album is the second part of Tate's musical trilogy.

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STEVE HARRIS Says BRITISH LION Is 'Getting Heavier And Heavier'

Sam Sheppard of Mammoth Metal TV recently conducted an interview with IRON MAIDEN and BRITISH LION bassist Steve Harris. You can listen to the full chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On if any of the songs from BRITISH LION's 2012 self-titled debut album were written in the early '90s when Harris was mentoring the band: Steve: "A couple were written from back then. 'A World Without Heaven', 'Eyes Of The Young' and 'The Chosen Ones' were from that era. They were really good songs; that's kind of the reason why I ended up doing this. I thought the songs were too good to not see the light of day, really. They go down really well live. They are really good live songs. We've evolved as a band in the last two or three tours that we've been doing, they've just evolved into really good live songs, not that they weren't before. I think, if anything, we're probably getting heavier and heavier." On the '70s influence on the band's debut album: Steve: "The first album [has it], the second album will be different. The band has been evolving anyway, just live naturally. The second album will be a lot more like we are now. It's just the vibe, the sounds, the guitar stuff, some of Graham's [Leslie] guitar sounds on a couple of songs were that sort of sound. I'd still like to keep that element in there because the band is evolving. It's what we started with, so it's important." On if BRITISH LION is recording shows from their recent tour for an eventual live album release: Steve: "Yeah, we're recording them all. We've got a few recorded from before, too, but we got all of these recordings, so it's going to take a while to go through them all. We've got some good stuff. We've had some really good shows and hopefully in the cold light of day, they are good performances. You go back and listen to the stuff, it can only be better or worse, depending on what we find. But the band is feeling tight, feeling powerful, and good, so I think we'll have some good stuff." On when the second BRITISH LION album will be recorded: Steve: "By the end of next year, because I'll be really busy with MAIDEN for a good part of next year. We'll be playing a few European festivals with BRITISH LION also, so there's not loads of time to sort the live album and record as well. Because we have been playing quite a few new songs live anyway, I don't think it will take as long. Having said that, we're just trying to find a window of time to do it. I think because we have been playing a lot of the songs live, we should be able to bash most of those songs out very quickly. I think it will be more of a traditional way of recording, really." On playing shows in smaller venues with BRITISH LION: Steve: "Playing live in all of these small places, I really enjoy it, and it keeps me fit for MAIDEN as well. It's all good. I'm really enjoying it." On traveling in a bus versus airplane: Steve: "I've always liked the bus anyway, but the biggest downside I have to deal with is all the bloody snoring. It's a bit of a nightmare. Other than that, when you're going along, it's alright, you can't really hear it, but when you have a shorter drive and you stop, then it comes into play. I try to use earplugs, but they don't work too well." On the vibe of the new BRITISH LION songs: Steve: "There's a difference going on. It's hard to say. I think 'Bible Black' in particular, is pretty heavy, even though it has very melodic verses. I don't think there's too many bands out there at the moment playing this kind of stuff that is heavy and with this much melody in it. Maybe there is, but I don't know about it. We've played on some festival-type bills and we've been very different as to who else is on the bill, which I think is quite interesting." BRITISH LION's debut album sold around 3,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 3 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. "British Lion" was released in the U.S. on September 25, 2012 via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). Mixed by Kevin Shirley — whose credits include IRON MAIDEN as well as LED ZEPPELIN, JOURNEY and RUSH, among many others — the CD features Harris alongside singer Richard Taylor, guitarists Graham Leslie and David Hawkins and drummer Simon Dawson.

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AIRBOURNE Frontman: 'You Have To Have Fun With Rock And Roll'

A Music Blog, Yea! conducted an interview with Joel and Ryan O'Keefe of Australian hard rockers AIRBOURNE prior to the band's October 7 show at The Opera House in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You can watch the full chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On releasing their new album, "Breakin' Outta Hell": Ryan: "It took a bit. [It's] the first record we recorded in Australia, but to finally have it out, is a big relief. The reception has been really good. We couldn't be happier." On the band's motto of "No ballads, no bullshit": Joel: "I said it in an interview about the record, then Dante [Bonutto], our U.K. label manager said, 'Hey, we should put a sticker on [the record].' We said 'That's a great idea!' So we did. That's where it came from." On the band's sense of humor: Joel: "You have to have fun with rock and roll. That's what it's all about. Either you do it all or nothing. You can't half-ass a song like 'Do Me Like You Do Yourself'. The lyrical content has to be what the title is. You can't sort of… you can't half-ass it. You have to go all the way. It was funny in the studio when we were recording it. The last line is 'Do me, do me, do me, do me like you do yourself. Do me before I do myself.' That's how the song finishes. You got to go all the way." On the band's drinking habits while on tour: Joel: "Yeah, [we drink] quite a bit. Basically, you know whatever situation you find yourself, you know you're doing the wrong thing. You know it's bad, but you're really enjoying it, so the hell with it. You're going to do it anyway and then deal with the consequences later." On "It's All For Rock And Roll", their homage to late MOTÖRHEAD frontman Lemmy Kilmister: Ryan: "We had the riff and song. The song was always about rock and roll, but we felt…it was the eleventh hour, even though we had the riff for a while, but the lyrics weren't written. It was one of those things where we felt it wasn't hitting the mark. I think [producer] Bob [Marlette] was saying, 'C'mon guys, you can do better.'" Joel: "He felt we had the music down, but we needed to sing something. It almost got cut from the record." Ryan: "I think Joel had 'It's All For Rock And Roll' and I went 'You know who this is going to be written about?' I said it's going to be written about Lemmy and bang, the lyrics just came like that." Joel: "I was writing them in the hotel that night, and the next day I came in and sang it. It was the last day in the studio. It's awesome when it happens for the right reason. We wanted to do it at the beginning of the record, but we didn't have the right song. This one just jumped out and we went 'This one!'" On how audiences have been reacting to the band's new material: Ryan: "The reception has been really great. Album number four, people were waiting for it and in the end, and we couldn't have had a better reception for it. We just look forward to touring, obviously, North America and Europe, U.K., and keep going back and forth as much as we can." On what have been some of the more "rock and roll" moments on the tour: Joel: "I fell off the stage during the last song and I tore ligaments in my foot, and cracked a few ribs, then basically, I've had to have an air cast on the thing for every show since, but tonight and last night, I'm going to go without it and tape it up. I don't know how to tape my foot; I've been going on YouTube, looking at figure-8 tape and going 'I think that's what I'm going to do.' There's all of these hockey guys going 'You got an injury, you got to get back in the game, man!' But they were going too quick. I know it's like that, but I sort of guessed, so that's rock and roll, to wing it." "Breakin' Outta Hell" arrived on September 23 via Spinefarm.

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Austin Carlile leaves Of Mice & Men

If this year was a roller coaster for Of Mice & Men, they’re ending 2016 on a big drop. Vocalist Austin Carlile released a statement on his social media that he will be leaving the band due to his health. Carlile has Marfan Syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder, and it’s gotten progressively worse over […]

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HENRY ROLLINS: 'I Don't Know If You Could Even Have A BLACK FLAG In 2016'

Earlier in the year, Moshcam conducted an interview with Henry Rollins, former lead singer with BLACK FLAG and current spoken-word performer, actor and "punk" journalist, while he was in Sydney, Australia. You can now watch the chat below. Asked how he thinks a band like BLACK FLAG would be received if it was formed in 2016 and not forty years earlier, Rollins said: "I don't know if there's ingredients in society in America that would birth a band like BLACK FLAG right now. With cell phones and Bandcamp sites and relative convenience, I don't know if a band like BLACK FLAG — which was birthed out of anger and police oppression and having our phones tapped and people throwing stuff at the band — I don't know if you would have gotten that level of anger and precision and hostility coming from us, 'cause we were all of that. I don't know if those ingredients would be in place to be able to mold and temper that kind of music. I think BLACK FLAG was truly a product of the late '70s [and] early '80s California, where cops were just going to gigs and just beating the daylights out of kids, and there was drugs that were killing kids — a lot of speed, a lot of heroin — and there's certainly that now, sadly. So I don't know if you could even have a BLACK FLAG in 2016." He continued: "How would it be regarded now? Probably no one would be there throwing ashtrays at our heads. They'd be going, 'Wow! Your anger's so great. Can I get a photo with you?' I think it would be that. It's a softer… I'm aware of things… Maybe I'm just old and curmudgeonly, but all of those music scenes I see these days, they're very soft, in my opinion." Rollins was the frontman for BLACK FLAG from 1981 to 1986. In that time he developed a worldwide reputation thanks to his wild, ferocious stage presence and his penchant for violence. BLACK FLAG disbanded in 1986 because of the strained relationship between Rollins and the group's founder Greg Ginn. In 1995, Henry won a Grammy in the "Best Spoken Word Or Non-Musical Album" category for the audiobook version of his non-fiction work "Get In The Van: On The Road With Black Flag". Ginn in 2013 announced a new BLACK FLAG album and tour with onetime frontman Ron Reyes. Later the very same day, four other former members of BLACK FLAG announced the formation of FLAG — a tribute to all eras of the band, featuring founding singer and current OFF! frontman Keith Morris, bassist Chuck Dukowski, drummer Bill Stevenson, singer-turned-guitarist Dez Cadena and newly adopted guitarist Stephen Egerton, Stevenson's longtime bandmate in his main outfit, fellow SoCal punk legends the DESCENDENTS.

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Video: QUEENSRŸCHE Performs In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Fan-filmed video footage of QUEENSRŸCHE's December 7 performance at Rex Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania can be seen below. QUEENSRŸCHE recently embarked on a month-long headlining tour of the United States. Support on the trek came from ARMORED SAINT and MIDNIGHT ETERNAL. QUEENSRŸCHE's latest album, "Condition Hüman", debuted at No. 27 on The Billboard 200 chart, having shifted 14,000 equivalent album units in the week ending October 8, 2015. The band plans to enter the studio in January to write and record the follow-up to "Condition Hüman" for a late 2017 release. In an interview with the The Aquarian Weekly, singer Todd La Torre stated about QUEENSRŸCHE's most recent tour: "Yeah. We've got a lot of new songs in the set. We've kept some of the staple songs the fans wanna hear, but we changed things up a lot to improve the production." He added: "There's always gonna be those staple songs that the band will always play, but then we just listen to the fans and see what they wanna hear. Then we take the majority when we ask people and then also combine with what we wanna play and what's fun for us to do. We put a setlist together so that most everyone hears what they wanted. There's just so much material and there's only so much time to play. We do the best that we can." La Torre told the "Rockin' Metal Revival" show that any songs that QUEENSRŸCHE plays on the current touring cycle that are not from the band's latest album are "from the first five or six records, just because… I think that the band overall just really feels that that is kind of more where their heart lies in the QUEENSRŸCHE catalog." He explained: "There are good songs and stuff on other records, but I think, collectively, when you talk to the bandmembers and you talk to the fans, the general consensus seems to be, like I say, from the EP up to 'Promised Land'. You know, somebody might like something off 'Tribe' or 'Hear In The Now Frontier', or whatever, but we really wanna be able to play what we wanna play, but also you try to think of the majority of the fans." He continued: "There's always gonna be someone that isn't happy that you didn't play a particular song off a particular record, but you have to go with what is probably the biggest bang for the buck for the fans. And I think that we've put together a really great setlist."

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SEPULTURA Guitarist Doesn't See The Point Of MAX And IGOR CAVALERA Playing Entire 'Roots' Album

In a brand new interview with Australia's Loud, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser was asked if the band has any inclination to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of its "Roots" album, or the twenty-fifth anniversary of "Arise", by performing either LP in its entirety on an upcoming tour. He responded: "Not really, man. It seems like a waste of time, actually. It doesn't bring anything new to your career. Of course, we did [play full albums for], like, special occasions, like we played the whole 'Arise' [LP] here in São Paulo [Brazil for] the anniversary of this metal club here in São Paulo, very traditional. So we did like a special show for them. We did another special show with [1993's] 'Chaos A.D.' in its entirety in another special project in a different place. But it is a show or two; it's not like a tour." He continued: "It seems to me that it is like something that's not going to bring anything new. We never had that kind of intention to do something like that. "Of course, 'Roots' is an amazing album, [and] twenty years [later], we're so proud to be a part of such an amazing project. "People talk about 'Roots' still today. It influenced so many different people. It sounds fucking amazing, it sounds like we [made it] yesterday. And we play songs from the 'Roots' album all the time. Of course, in this past year we brought songs like 'Endangered Species', 'Dictatorshit', 'Spit', 'Ambush' — songs that we didn't play for many years — because of that type of celebration. But to put everything on the side and only do 'Roots', for us, would be something very weak. And we are so much focused on what we're doing now, having a new album with a label and everything. Respecting our past but live in the present. We are here now, and that's what matters the most. I think we have to really live today and not really be locked in our past." Asked if he is fine with former SEPULTURA members Max and Igor Cavalera going out there and playing the entire "Roots" album as part of their ongoing "Return To Roots" world tour, Kisser said: "I don't care. Everyone does whatever they want. If they feel that's good for their career, whatever, man. It doesn't change anything that I do. It's like a… It's weird to comment on something like that, because, for me, it's weird. [Laughs] I don't see the point. They have so many different projects. Actually, they left SEPULTURA for those projects, and now they're playing SEPULTURA. I don't understand that kind of attitude. But whatever, man. I respect any type of opinion, and, of course, I don't agree with them all, but people are free to do whatever they want. You just have to live with the consequences — that's all." Max told Peavey in a recent interview that "Roots" was "a fun record to make." But he admitted that it was not until he and Igor "really dissected the record to play on" the "Return To Roots" tour that he "went deep on the tracks that I realized how cool of a record 'Roots' really is." He added: "It is really one of a kind. It's a groundbreaking record, and it's got a lot of cool stuff that I kind of rediscovered on this tour that I love to play live — stuff like 'Spit', 'Cut-Throat', 'Straighthate'… So fun… 'Breed Apart'… It's so fun live. I actually like those better than the classic songs." "Roots", along with 1993's "Chaos A.D.", is considered SEPULTURA's most commercially successful release, having been certified gold in 2005 by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for U.S. shipments in excess of 500,000 copies. In 1996, Max exited SEPULTURA after the rest of the band fired Max's wife Gloria as their manager. Igor left SEPULTURA in June 2006 due to "artistic differences." His departure from the band came five months after he announced that he was taking a break from SEPULTURA's touring activities to spend time with his second wife and their new son (who was born in January 2006). The current SEPULTURA lineup — featuring Kisser and bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. alongside Derrick Green on vocals and Eloy Casagrande on drums — will release its new studio album, "Machine Messiah", on January 13 via Nuclear Blast.

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AUSTIN CARLILE Quits OF MICE & MEN

Austin Carlile, the vocalist and founding member of California's OF MICE & MEN, has left the band. The singer, who suffers from Marfan Syndrome, is now unable to scream as a result of his longstanding health issues, and said, "I realized that I had to step away from OF MICE & MEN." In a lengthy, emotional statement, he also paid tribute to those who have supported, or been involved with, OF MICE & MEN from the start, including the four remaining members of the group, who he says will carry on as a quartet. "I never thought in a million years I would be sitting in Costa Rica writing this. I never thought I would start a successful band," he wrote. "I never thought I'd open for MARILYN MANSON and SLIPKNOT for an entire summer. I never thought I would go on a world tour with LINKIN PARK and sing 'Faint' on stage with them all around the globe, I never thought I‘d become friends with Mike Shinoda and he'd help me write songs for an album of ours that sat at the No. 4 spot on the Billboard top charts. I never thought I would befriend bands like AVENGED SEVENFOLD, METALLICA, and KORN. I never thought i would sing 'Ball Tongue' on stage with KORN. I never thought my band would play, much less headline Warped Tour, play giant radio festivals all over the world with some of my favorite artists, or tour in Germany, or anywhere in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, Chile, Canada, the United Kingdom, Scotland, Holland, Norway, or Italy, etc. "The first time I ever left the States was because of this band that I started in a tiny barred window studio apartment... I never thought people would ask to take selfies with me inside the Roman Collesium, on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or even the mall I worked at in Ohio where OF MICE & MEN was born eight years ago with the help of my friends in THOUGH SHE WROTE. Kameron Bradbury now in BEARTOOTH on guitar, recording our first song together in a local studio for just $50. I never thought putting the song 'Seven Thousand Miles For What' on MySpace would reach over a million plays in a week, and that I'd sign a record contract of my own just days later. I never thought i‘d pack my things up and drive to California for the first time to find permanent band members. I never thought all my wildest dreams and more would eventually come true... "I also never thought my fibrostic connective tissue disorder marfan syndrome would cause touring to be so hard and painful for me. I always thought the pain would get better one day, or that i would get better too. But this never happened; that day has still yet to come. From multiple surgeries, caused from touring over multiple years, and after cancelling a European tour halfway through, this October 2016 finally brought me to my knees. My greatest fear had become a reality... I had three tears in my dual sac surrounding my spinal cord, and we discovered that every time I would push down to scream, spinal fluid would rush though the tears which was causing me the violent pain every time I'd perform. It was causing my muscles to seize up, and body to contort on stage, and making me lethargic and sore every hour of the day. "My doctors and team of specialists had warned me for years of the detriment of my career to my health, but I pushed through anyways. I always pushed through. I had to push through. This is what I love, music is where i found myself. But these three tears in my spine, plus a fourth that occurred the year prior, were signs that i was absolutely not able to scream anymore. My team advised me that if I continued to do so, it would cause 'permanent and irrevocable damage to my spinal cord and nervous system.' After learning this, I realized that I had to step away from OF MICE & MEN. No longer able to scream most of our old material, or continue to scream on anything new, I cannot continue on. "This has been the hardest thing that has happened in my life for a very long time, but thankfully the band, my family, and closest friends stand behind me and understand. They have all personally seen how much pain I have had to endure and especially the past two years as my spine was tearing apart but I kept going, I gave it my all, and cannot express this enough. "The band will now still continue on just the four of them, and I wish them the best of luck without me heading into 2017. "I will be here in Costa Rica, where I have now moved, continuing to heal, rest, and write. "I will not stop playing music. I am still able to sing and I'm hungry for what is next to come even though I have no idea what that may be. "I feel God placed me at this crossroads for a reason, and with the closing of one door, another will open. I'm taking this as an opportunity to grow closer to him, as he is the reason I never gave up or ended my life years ago while facing my various troubles. "I have decided to listen to my specialists, and God telling me it's time to do something new. I have to do this for myself, my health, my body. "I'm so thankful my spinal injuries weren't worse, for I could have easily been paralyzed permenantly. "I have now made the choice to use my life, my story, and my voice for his glory. To help show his love and grace I have experienced firsthand to anyone else searching for the same hope. "OF MICE & MEN offered hope to thousands, but there is no true hope unless through Jesus Christ (yashua). I have now dedicated my life to sharing this with the world, which needs it so badly right now more than ever. "Some ask how I am not mad at God for taking ali. This from me and putting me through so much pain and loss... My answer is simple: it is my path to follow, my story, and my life is not my own, but a gift from god in the first place. "This seems like the perfect opportunity for me to use my story to hopefully inspire others who have experienced pain, hurt, depression or loss in their own lives. "We all have our stories, we all have certain things we have overcome. We have done this together, you helped make my dreams come true, and I want to thank you all for the immense support over the years. Now I must do what i have to. "I wanted to keep this news in 2016, because 2017 is going to be a new year, with new chapters. "Remember, your days are like pages, chapters unread, you have to keep going, keep turning, keep reading... Because your book has no end. Just like the ampersand tattoo on my thumb, we will not fade. "You are in my heart and I‘m ready to start a new journey with all of you remaining by my side. I can do nothing alone, and I'm grateful I won't have to because of you. "Thank you. To everyone who has ever been a fan or a part of OF MICE & MEN, from the start, Kameron, Joey, Luke, Ethan, Jared, Jaxin, Phil, Aaron, Joel, Justin, Jon, Shayley, Tino, and Alan, for everything, thank you. Here's to 2017. "God bless! X -Austin Carlile"

My heart is heavy... I never thought I would be writing this... Wanted to leave this announcement in the mess that is 2016... http://pic.twitter.com/T02QIt2hUp

— Austin Carlile (@austincarlile) December 30, 2016

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KREATOR Frontman On 'Gods Of Violence': 'We Didn't Wanna Put Out An Album That Was Just Okay'

Finland's Kaaos TV conducted an interview with KREATOR guitarist/vocalist Mille Petrozza and guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö on November 23 in Helsinki, Finland. You can now watch the chat below. Asked how the songwriting process for KREATOR's new album, "Gods Of Violence", was different from that of the band's previous efforts, Mille said: "It's never the same. When I started writing the first songs in 2013, I just had to start somewhere, and the first song I wrote was the title track. And I took a lot of time in between. At one point, I wanted to schedule the rehearsals for the album [for] the beginning of 2015, but then I wasn't ready." He continued: "Every time we start writing, I ask everyone to send in ideas. Sami, he sent an intro part bit, and I was, like, 'It's okay for an intro, but why not make this a chorus part. Or this part maybe make this like a middle section.' So the creative process is always… Some things just happen while you go, so there's no formula." Pressed on whether the critical success of KREATOR's previous album, 2012's "Phantom Antichrist", contributed partly to the delay in getting "Gods Of Violence" completed, Mille said: "Maybe put it this way: we didn't wanna put out an album after 'Phantom Antichrist' that's just okay. So in order to be inspired, it was essential to take some time off and get away from touring, get away from being a musician in the sense of where you're just a touring musician that doesn't have a life and doesn't experience anything new. I think inspiration comes from things that you experience while you're on the road, because on the road, it can turn into a routine where you see a hotel room and the show itself. I mean, of course you get the energy from the audience, but it's a different form of energy. You're celebrating something that's already there. It's music that has already been written." "Gods Of Violence" will be released on January 27, 2017 via Nuclear Blast Records. The cover artwork for the disc was created by renowned artist Jan Meininghaus, who also made the limited-edition artwork for KREATOR's last album, 2012's "Phantom Antichrist", and has lent his talents to bands like BOLT THROWER, ACCEPT and OVERKILL in the past. The exclusive North American cover was created by renowned artist Marcelo Vasco, who has previously worked with SLAYER, MACHINE HEAD, SOULFLY and HATEBREED.

North American cover (by Marcelo Vasco): International cover (by Jan Meininghaus):

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CHILDREN OF BODOM Drummer Says 'Severe Back Pain' Has Made It Difficult For Him To Enjoy The Band's Live Shows.

Drummer Jaska Raatikainen of Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM says that "severe back pain" has made it difficult for him to enjoy the band's live shows. Raatikainen, who co-founded CHILDREN OF BODOM in 1993 under the name INEARTHED, revealed his condition in a Facebook post recapping 2016. He wrote in part: "Even though so many great things happened to me this year, it was still overshadowed by severe back pain that made me really frustrated and anxious. I needed painkillers to be able to perform a show and still wasn't able to enjoy it. Sometimes it was just surviving through the set. The days I didn't have pain and I could play normally were rare. Those shows I played like it could be my last show and just couldn't help thinking that this great thing what I was doing on stage could end any day." He continued: "The tour in South America and all the festivals in the summer made me think my life and career more deeply. Being a drummer with a body that is a total wreck is probably the worst combo. All the flying and suffering from sleep deprivation was just too rough for me. It really made me think if this all work is worth the pain. Though, I don't give up very easily when it comes to what I love the most." The drummer added that he hoped his condition would improve by the time CHILDREN OF BODOM was done recording its next studio album, which will happen in late 2017. He wrote: "We will start creating new songs during spring and summer, and will head to the studio during fall. The album will be our tenth studio album, which is also quite a milestone. It seems that after the studio I will have some time to get my back better somehow, possibly an operation if all the other options have been tried out." As previously reported, CHILDREN OF BODOM will perform most of their debut album, "Something Wild", on a European tour early next year to celebrate the record's twentieth anniversary. The month-long trek, dubbed "20 Years Down & Dirty", will kick off on March 8 in Hanover, Germany and conclude on April 4 in Stockholm, Sweden. Said Jaska: "A 20-year career is a long time for anyone. For me and Alexi [Laiho, CHILDREN OF BODOM frontman], it actually means 25 years together. Two thirds of my life I have been playing drums in a band and performing around the world. I am very proud of that. "I cannot wait for the tour in the spring and playing some old songs. The set will include some rarities and also some songs we have never played live. Practically we have played some of the songs in '97 or '98 — 20 years ago! "We really have to dig deeper to the first two albums and try to figure out what exactly was the thing each of us wanted to express with our music." CHILDREN OF BODOM last month embarked on a 21-date North American tour with special guests iconic black metal artist ABBATH, California-based metal act EXMORTUS, and Canada's progressive metallers ONI. The trek commenced in Quebec on November 23 and concluded in Brooklyn on December 19. A year ago, CHILDREN OF BODOM announced the addition of guitarist Daniel Freyberg (NAILDOWN, NORTHER) to the group's ranks.

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ARCH ENEMY: Watch 'Ravenous' Performance Clip From 'As The Stages Burn!' DVD

ARCH ENEMY will release a new live DVD, "As The Stages Burn!", on March 31, 2017 via Century Media. The set contains video footage of the band's largest stage production to date from their performance last summer at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany. This performance marks the pinnacle of a highly successful album campaign in support of "War Eternal". It all began in March of 2014 when the band announced new vocalist Alissa White-Gluz as well as the video for the album title track, "War Eternal". This debut track went on to become the bands most successful video in their career, surpassing 20 million views on YouTube. The release of the "War Eternal" album also saw ARCH ENEMY reaching their highest U.S. and German chart positions to date while going on to play over 200 shows in over 40 countries around the world. In late 2014, Jeff Loomis (ex-NEVERMORE) joined ARCH ENEMY during the world tour with KREATOR and in 2015 they played arenas as direct support for NIGHTWISH. A performance clip of the song "Ravenous", taken from "As The Stages Burn!", can be seen below. ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott told Spark TV about "As The Stages Burn!": "I think this is the perfect album cycle to document. It's a fresh new ARCH ENEMY, and we just spent two years on the road or more, and, yeah, we just wanna put it out there kind of as a document of this time. And the show at Wacken was really special as well. We put a lot of effort into the production and had our biggest show to date. And that'll be the main part of the DVD, I guess, but there's gonna be a lot of other stuff as well, and it'll be like a live album, DVD, Blu-ray and all that stuff. We have a lot of other cool shows filmed as well, and parts of those might very well be a part of the DVD. But, you know, Wacken was just a great opportunity; it's the biggest heavy metal festival in the world." ARCH ENEMY will celebrate the release of "As The Stages Burn!" with a number of European shows with special support from LACUNA COIL and THE HAUNTED. Regarding the progress of the songwriting sessions for ARCH ENEMY's follow-up to "War Eternal", Michael said: "There's plenty of ideas floating around, and there's even some simple demos and stuff like that, but we haven't really seriously gotten into the songwriting process yet. But there's a lot of ideas. But we've been spending so much time on the road, and we're not really the kind of band that writes music on the road. I mean, we might come up with a little riff idea or a melody, or something like that, or a lyrical idea, but it's easier to put it together at home when you take some specific, dedicated time to write and put together music. It's a different kind of focus that you need, I think. You wake up in a different city every day, and it's a different life, and it's a little bit hard to focus on things like that." Added Loomis: "I think the writing process is gonna be awesome between us. It's just like Mike said — we really haven't had a lot of time to sit down together yet, but I think that time is gonna be coming soon." Regarding the expectations for ARCH ENEMY's next album, Alissa said: "I think that for all of us, with any new album, or even just with any show, it's always a challenge to do better than the last time. And I think that we all love 'War Eternal' and it's always gonna be super special to us, but we still wanna do better this time. It's just a matter of always keeping very, very high standards and being critical on yourself but in a constructive way, so that you can always produce good music and good performances. I don't think any of us are complacent when it comes to the quality of music that we've put out. I don't think we have any specific ideas in mind for things that we have to achieve within the album, but we have a really strong lineup here that's capable of putting together a really solid album. So we're all pretty excited about it… Let's not forget also that we have Jeff here for the writing process of this album, which we didn't have with 'War Eternal', so right there we have a whole new world to explore. So that's pretty exciting too."

Arch Enemy - "Ravenous" live at Wacken Open Air 2016!

Are you ready for this?! "As The Stages Burn!" DVD/BLURAY OUT MARCH 2017!

Posted by Arch Enemy on Thursday, December 29, 2016

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LIFE OF AGONY's 'A Place Where There's No Pain' To Arrive In April

"A Place Where There's No Pain", the first new album from LIFE OF AGONY in over a decade, will be released on April 28, 2017 via Napalm Records. The band's fifth studio LP will mark LIFE OF AGONY's first release since singer Mina Caputo (formerly known as Keith Caputo) came out as transgender in 2011. LIFE OF AGONY bassist Alan Robert previously stated about the upcoming effort: "I think our fans know that our music comes from a very real place of suffering, from all of us in the band. "Many of our fans have told us over the years that sharing our personal struggles has been cathartic for them in healing the pain in their own lives. That uplifting energy we share at the shows gives us hope that there's light at the end of the tunnel. And for us and hopefully our fans, that short time when we're all together is a place where there's no more pain." LIFE OF AGONY returned to the stage and performed on multiple festival dates in Europe over the summer of 2014. The band's famed "River Runs Red" lineup, consisting of vocalist Mina Caputo, guitarist Joseph Zampella (a.k.a. Joey Z), bassist Alan Robert and drummer Sal Abruscato, was excited to take the stage together once again after a three-year hiatus. Asked in a December 2015 interview with The Aquarian Weekly how LIFE OF AGONY's music is still relatable and influential to the hardcore the scene today, Alan said: "Well, I think there is something to be said about the message and the music. When a lot of those songs were written, especially lyrically — you know, 'River Runs Red'… I was probably in my late teens writing those songs. It was all about dealing with depression and struggles growing up, and you know… just taking in everything that we were all going through in our families, and also dealing with troubles socializing things. And these are all common themes even now. Kids today, I think, are still going through these problems — maybe even more so, because you know, now that technology is in everyone's hands, it almost isolates you even more in a way. And these are common themes in all of our records, especially on the 'Ugly' record. Themes like feeling out of place and feeling like the ugly duckling, basically, and, 'We are the black sheep.' These are just common issues with growing up, and I think that some of these personalities gravitate towards hardcore music and metal music because it's still kind of on the outskirts of mainstream, and it's kind of going against the grain of what's expected, and I think they find community there. I know I did growing up, and going to shows to let out some angst, and anger, and turn it into positivity — I think that's been the whole message of LIFE OF AGONY from the start." He continued: "Whether we realize it or not, we started out as these angry, depressed [laughs] kids, and by venting through our music, we created a community we're accepted in, and we can bond with people who were going through the same emotions. That is the 'hardcore' aspect of the music. There's a lot of 'metal' type of sounds and guitar riffs, but as far as the 'hardcore elements' in LIFE OF AGONY, the honesty and the purity of the message that we were trying to communicate was trying to basically lift someone up when they're feeling down, and let them know that you're not alone out there." Alan added: "Time and time again, we have fans coming up to us from all over the world thanking us for making the music that we do because it saved their lives, and that means the world to us because we knew how it felt to be alone when no one was listening. Here are these kids listening to our music, knowing that they're not alone, and that no one else feels the same way that they do." Regarding LIFE OF AGONY's future plans, Alan said: "I think ever since the summer of 2014 when we kicked this back up again, it's been so much fun and the energy has been so good between us and the people everywhere we go that we want to keep it going; we absolutely do. We're having a great time. And I think now that Mina has come out, she is free as a bird, and there is no holding back. It's just so great to see, not just as a bandmember, but as a longtime friend, to see her really comfortable in her own skin. I'm just really proud of her for her bravery, and everyone's been so accepting and so positive that it's really encouraging to see." Photo by Jeremy Saffer

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GENE SIMMONS Says KISS Was Never Asked To Perform At DONALD TRUMP's Inauguration

Gene Simmons has shot down reports that KISS was invited to perform at Donald Trump's inauguration. Word of KISS's possible involvement with the president-elect's big event next month began circulating last week when Simmons's wife Shannon Tweed said Trump's camp approached her husband about participating, but he politely declined. TMZ's cameras caught up with Simmons, his wife and their daughter Sophie outside of Catch in West Hollywood on December 21. When asked if Simmons would play the inauguration, his wife and daughter spoke on his behalf. "No!" they repeatedly shouted. Earlier today (Friday, December 3), Gene told the Fox News morning show "Fox & Friends" that KISS had never been asked to perform at the inauguration. "As far as I know, nobody ever called me," he said. "I know Donald Trump, I know our president-elect well enough, I suppose, but I never got a call." Asked if he would perform at the event if he was asked, Simmons — who called Trump the "truest political animal I've ever seen on stage" earlier this year — responded: "The problem with even talking about this is everything has become so polarized. People should just give it a rest and stop trying to use politics or what our president-elect means or doesn't mean as some kind of tool." He continued: "Look, a wake-up call is that al-Qaeda, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and all the other bad guys in the world actually don't make a difference between Republicans and Democrats or anybody; they just don't like Americans. So maybe we should all sign up for the American political party and get used to it. We have a president-elect. Now let's move on." Pressed on what he expects from Donald Trump as president, Simmons said: "Look, he's a good family man. Let's not talk politics. Let's talk the real important issue. He's a good father, there's no drugs, there's no booze, there's no craziness going on. And the rest of it… Do what the founding fathers of this country actually, sort of, created. There's a ballot box, you vote your conscience, you draw the curtain, and that's the end of it. And it's nobody's business who you vote for. And we should all just take a deep breath and get on with our lives, where we should be blessing this hallowed ground called America every day. It's gonna great, it's gonna be fine. Warren Buffett's gonna invest in America, and so will I." Simmons, a former contestant on Trump's "The Celebrity Apprentice" show, also once again repeated his belief that celebrities should keep their political opinions to themselves — especially when it comes to the results of the 2016 presidential election. "Why does anybody give a squat what a guy in a band thinks about or anything like that? The last thing I wanna do is to ask President Obama what he thinks about LED ZEPPELIN." Simmons told People magazine earlier in the year that he liked how Trump was shaking up the presidential race. "The important thing about Trump, and I'm not saying whether I'm voting for him, or Hilary [Clinton], or anybody else, is that he has changed the game," Simmons said. "He doesn't want your money. This guy funds his own campaign, and he is going to say things that tens of millions of people actually say quietly because politically it's 'incorrect.'"

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Metal Insider’s 10 most shocking moments of 2016

Well, it’s been a year, 2016 has. A year where a gorilla getting shot was one of the least shitty things that happened, 2016 opened with the metal community still in shock over the passing of Lemmy and closed with the death of Princess Leia and her mom a day later, meaning all bets are […]

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5 Great Decibel Posts from 2016

2016 has been a tough, disappointing and perhaps even tragic year for many people. Despite some very real bright spots and positive innovations, there is an ominous and uncertain feeling among many of us as the year draws to a close. But luckily enough, great art is always there as a refuge, and great writing about great art always helps as well.

So with that in mind, here are my five favorite Decibel articles from the website in 2016. Most of these were actually interviews or discussions. This isn’t meant as a slight against any of the excellent editorials, premieres or news items that came out. Rather there were genuine cases where I felt like I’d learned something new or interesting about the artist. But anyway, I won’t belabor this anymore, you’ll have plenty of reading to do with the list below:

1. Death Metal vs Black Metal: Book Authors Face Off

My favorite article of the year was probably the interview/back-and-forth between Decibel editor Albert Mudrian and author Dayal Patterson. The two were talking about their respective books, Choosing Death and The Cult Never Dies: Volume One (part of Dayal’s series on black metal). I’ve interviewed Dayal a couple times myself and I was stoked to see him chat with Albert about the two pillars of extreme metal. One interesting tidbit was Dayal’s discussion of Lords of Chaos:

I think it's a somewhat flawed but often interesting read. There's some engaging ideas and some good interviews in there but it's also unfortunately presents a rather distorted picture of black metal. It only focuses on the more controversial aspects of the early to mid nineties scene and a lot of statements made by the bands were essentially posturing for the benefit of an outsider and so it became something like a caricature.

Read the whole thing.

2. That Tour Was Awesome: Ministry/Helmet/Sepultura (1992)

If only I’d been old enough to go see this tour. Granted, I got to see Ministry in 2008, but to see them in the Psalm 69 era must have been something else. My favorite moment of this article was of course Max Cavalera recounting his experience throwing up all over Eddie Vedder outside a show in Seattle:

In Seattle there were the Soundgarden guys and Pearl Jam. And I got out of control. It was one of those things where I was drinking right after our set and went to the Ministry bus and kept chugging rum and one more chug of the rum and it all came back up. Eddie Vedder was sitting next to me and I unleashed all over his legs. He was surprisingly very friendly about it.

Read the whole thing.

3. Krieg’s Neill Jameson on Antifa and the Danger of Self Righteousness

Perhaps harkening to our country’s puritan heritage, the internet outrage machine was in full effect this year. This certainly includes the world of heavy metal. Usually this consists of innocuous sniping on social media and hot-takes that apparently people think will endure beyond the unremarkable incident itself. But sometimes people take things a step too far. Neill Jameson of Krieg had a lot to write about this year, but I thought this piece was his best:

I’m entirely for freedom of speech and expression, I think it’s one of the only principles this country was founded on that will always apply. But I’m also a firm believer that freedom of speech does not come without freedom from consequence. If you spout off something someone finds grossly offensive, then don’t be surprised if they don’t shove your teeth down your throat. But this didn’t really hit its target, did it? Instead it punished people who were there to see a few bands, get drunk and probably piss in their Uber on the ride home. And it did it after the largest mass shooting this country has seen in our lifetimes. That’s indefensible no matter how much you can argue about the perceived morality of the intent.

Read the whole thing.

4. Back to School Special: English & History with Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates

Funny, I had no idea Tomas Lindberg was a teacher! Here he is talking about what connects his musical life with teaching:

I would say both jobs [are] about reaching people, meeting people in a way.  Of course, with metal music you reach people in one way, with a certain direct emotion, hopefully, with your music; in teaching, you’ve got to reach them more intellectually, and grab their attention.  I guess, in every teacher and/or singer there’s a little bit of some need to be seen always.  It’s something I’ve had to come to terms with because I don’t see myself as that kind of person really.  But my students say I talk a lot [laughs] and that I like my own voice a little bit.  I think it’s kind of like getting a point across, opening eyes, opening minds… It’s an important thing for me.

Read the whole thing.

5. Norma Jean Get Different on Polar Similar

Corey Putman gives a good interview. He has a very thoughtful approach to talking about his music, his faith and how the two are intertwined. A lot of people may expect someone from a “Christian” band to have some sort of wide-eyed, country-bumpkin kind of outlook, but that’s not the case at all:

I never really saw it as this separatist kind of thing. But I think what more or less has happened is that it became more integrated into the heavy-music scene… for the most part. We’ve been on tour with bands that were Christian, and some that were very, very against it. And everyone got along, and the music still had this bond. Everyone still heard the music the same, and that’s the coolest thing to me. I always say music can’t have a belief; it’s a sound. A sound can’t have a belief. But I still sing from a place where my faith comes into play, but, really, I’ve always written about more personal experiences.

Read the whole thing.

Have a happy, safe and heavy new year in 2017!

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Concert By BOBBY BLOTZER's RATT Shut Down Over Name Dispute

A concert by by Bobby Blotzer's version of RATT was canceled last night at just hours before showtime after the venue received a cease-and-desist letter from the drummer's former bandmates. Blotzer is embroiled in a legal a dispute over the group's name with singer Stephen Pearcy, guitarist Warren DeMartini and bassist Juan Croucier. The Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan explained the show cancelation in a Facebook post, saying that they were "recently notified of a trademark dispute involving the band RATT. Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort was issued a 'cease-and-desist' letter from the parties claiming rights to the RATT trademark. After careful review, Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort has concluded that it cannot proceed with the performance of Mr. Blotzer due to the current legal dispute over the RATT band trademark." Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort added that it was looking forward "to booking RATT on a later date if and when the dispute regarding the trademark is resolved." Co-headliner NIGHT RANGER reportedly played the concert as scheduled. Blotzer's camp responded to the cancelation by releasing a statement of their own. They wrote on Facebook: "Soaring Eagle Casino dictated it would not allow RATT to perform unless Soaring Eagle Casino was allowed to take control over the performance and presentation of RATT's show for its fans. This was a violation of the contract signed by Soaring Eagle Casino. "Because of RATT's artistic integrity and demand to bring the fans the best show possible, RATT could not allow Soaring Eagle Casino to control the presentation of RATT's performance." Blotzer earlier in the month refuted DeMartini's claim that the drummer has been expelled from the RATT partnership and therefore no longer has an interest in the band's name. At the end of last month, three members of RATT's classic lineup — DeMartini, Pearcy and Croucier — issued a press release claiming that they had taken control of the band's name after a judge ruled against Blotzer with respect to whether Croucier had committed trademark infringement by using the RATT name and logo to advertise his band RATT'S JUAN CROUCIER back in the fall 2015. The judge furthermore decided that the corporation WBS, Inc., of which Blotzer and DeMartini were thought to be the sole shareholders, and which Blotzer had claimed owns the RATT name and brand, did not have ownership interest in the RATT marks and that the name and brand was still owned by the members who were part of the original RATT partnership agreement: Pearcy, Croucier, DeMartini and Blotzer. Under a 1985 written Ratt Partnership Agreement, the name/trademarks are the property of the partnership and can only be transferred with the unanimous approval of all partners. Thus, the judge ruled that in 1997 when Blotzer, DeMartini and Pearcy purported to transfer the trademarks to WBS, the transfer was invalid since Croucier, who was still a partner, was never advised of, and therefore did not consent to, the transfer. Therefore, the judge said, the partnership still owned the RATT name. In addition to claiming to have expelled Blotzer from the partnership following the latest court ruling, Pearcy, DeMartini and Croucier said that Blotzer could now only refer to himself as a "former member of RATT," as per the partnership agreement. On December 3, Blotzer — who has been touring the U.S. for the last year with his own version of RATT, featuring a rotating cast of musicians, including vocalist Josh Alan (ex-SIN CITY SINNERS) — and his attorney Drew Sherman addressed the latest legal developments in the RATT camp during an interview with the "One On One With Mitch Lafon" podcast (Facebook page). Despite the fact that a judge ruled that the four-way RATT partnership — and not WBS — still owned the band name, Sherman said that no judgment has been entered either against or in favor of Blotzer. "Essentially, WBS owns the name," the attorney said. "They — meaning Stephen, Juan, Warren — whatever they're going out as, they do not have permission to [go out as RATT]. So right now they're infringing the trademarks of RATT owned by WBS. "The ruling that we have, there are many legal strategies that will be employed in order to change and bring to the court's attention various other pieces of evidence as well as prior rulings," he continued. "So it's a long time before this is done. We're not even at the appeals part yet, because there's no judgment to appeal. So there's a lot of time. Status quo will remain, and WBS owns the marks." Insisting that his current band is still called RATT because "there is nothing else to call it," Blotzer said that he "made the decision as half owner of the [RATT] name" to start playing live shows as RATT without any other members of the band's classic lineup. He explained: "WBS owns the name. I'm 50% of WBS, Inc. and still am. WBS, Inc. still owns that name right this moment. That's not changed. "We've had tremendous, great success with this band out here," Blotzer said, referring to his current version of RATT. "I mean, we're headlining big gigs. It's doing really well. I'm very proud of that. So I think [Warren, Juan and Stephen] seeing this kind of success, now all of a sudden, from not liking each other or talking, [they're now in] collusion together and they decide that they're gonna do this at this point, and there you have it. They're making their move, and they don't have the name RATT." Blotzer's version of RATT recently announced the addition of Mitch Perry (TALAS, HEAVEN, STEELER, MSG, LITA FORD) and Stacey Blades (L.A. GUNS) on guitar and Brad Lang (Y&T) on bass. In should be noted that DeMartini's September 2015 lawsuit against Blotzer — in which the guitarist claimed that the drummer was falsely advertising his RATT "tribute band" as the real thing — is still pending in California state court.

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GEOFF TATE Remembers RONNIE JAMES DIO: 'He Was Such A Unique, Giving, Responsible, Friendly, Good Person'

Former QUEENSRŸCHE and current OPERATION: MINDCRIME vocalist Geoff Tate was recently interviewed by Honolulu, Hawaii radio host Dave Lawrence of Hawaii Public Radio's "All Things Considered". You can now listen to the chat below. Speaking about the impact legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio (BLACK SABBATH, DIO, HEAVEN & HELL) had on QUEENSRŸCHE in the band's early years, Tate said: "Ronnie was very, I would say, inspirational and instrumental in my career. He was the first major act to invite us on a tour of Europe. And we spent two [or] two and a half months touring Europe with him. [We played] so many shows [together]. And he was really a great mentor — friendly." He continued: "He invited us, first day when we got on the tour, to his dressing room, to introduce us to the band. And he introduced us to everybody, we got on a first-name basis with everyone in the band. Then he invited the entire crew in. We got to know everybody by a first-name basis with his crew. He gave us the stage, all the lights we wanted, the full sound with no restrictions. We could go anywhere we wanted. He even gave us dinner. The first time I'd ever eaten Indian food was with Ronnie Dio. And I thought to myself, 'What a gentleman. So this is how touring is. These headliners, they invite you in, and they treat you well.' Well, that never happened again [laughs] with anybody I ever toured with. [Laughs]" Tate added: "He was just such a unique, giving, responsible, friendly, good person." Geoff also recalled the last time he saw Ronnie, which happened in June 2006 when QUEENSRŸCHE and DIO shared stage at the Arrow Rock Festival in Lichtenvoorde, The Netherlands. "I remember Roger Waters was playing; he was headlining the festival," Geoff said. "And Ronnie popped into my dressing room with two bottles of Italian wine in his hands. He goes, 'Hey, you're a PINK FLOYD fan, right?' I go, 'Yeah.' He goes, 'Let's go watch the show.' So we went way up in the grass, behind all the audience, and sat up there and drank that wine and listened to Roger Waters play 'Dark Side Of The Moon'. It was incredible. [We were] just two fans drunk on Italian wine, having a good time. [Laughs]" "Resurrection", the second album from OPERATION: MINDCRIME, was released on September 23 via Frontiers Music Srl. The album is the second part of Tate's musical trilogy. Ronnie James Dio died on May 16, 2010 from gastric cancer at the age of 67.

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Demo:listen: Best of 2016

Welcome to Demo:listen, your weekly peek into the future of underground metal. Whether it’s death, black, doom, sludge, grind, thrash, heavy, speed, progressive, stoner, retro, post-, etc. we're here to bring you the latest demos from the newest bands. On this week’s Demo:listen, with a little help from some of our friends, we reflect on 2016, a year of great demos.

Because we’ve already featured so many outstanding demos this year—from bands like Hexenslaught, Maltheist, Horns & Hooves, Temple of Abandonment, Enge Store, Pile of Excrements, Devil’s Dare, Sombre Mundus, Massive Retaliation, Tideless, Ceremented, Malleus, Garroted, Verbum, Terravore, Graveolence, High Command, etc. etc.—my entries are designated to other and no-less incredible demos that I never got a chance to cover before, for one reason or another. It’s been a great year for demos, readers. I can’t remember a better year, but then again I’ve never paid so close attention to demos as I did this year. Suffice to say, thank you for your ongoing dedication to this column and to Decibel magazine.

TOMB MOLD

I know I just said I wasn’t going to mention any demos that we’ve already covered, but we should at least talk about the Best Demo of the Year, right? Rather, in Tomb Mold’s case, the Best Demos of the Year. While you’re well aware that Derrick and Max put out not one but two demos this year, did you know that they also recorded a full-length that’s coming out in February as well as locked down a full line-up and performed live for the first time? Aside from their abnormally prolific nature and their serious dedication to their undertaking of death metal, these Torontonians have that inherent zeal that sets them not only above and apart from the crowd, but beyond time and era.

Kevin Fitzgerald, vocalist of High Command's Top 5

• Malleus - Storm of Witchcraft
• Innumerable Forms - “Petrified”/”Joyless”
• PMS 84 - Demo 2016
• Wound Man - Fever Session
• The Impalers - Cellar Dweller promo tape

Iron Bonehead Productions Boss' Top 5

• Sorguinazia  - s/t
• Vitriol - s/t
• Worm - Nights in Hell
• Tomb Mold - The Moulting
• Hexenslaught - Demo 2016

LOCUS AMOENUS

Mike from Loss/Graceless Recordings hipped me to the unblessings of these sorrowful Dutchmen. Their demo Sic Erat Scriptum is four tracks of heart-strangling, breath-stealing blackened funeral doom replete with cleanly sung vocals performed by a young woman named Michelle Bouma whose voice is like crystal clear water trickling through the idyllic cemetery. A dynamic and epic demo that’ll break your heart and shoot your soul straight at the sun in a matter of thirty five minutes. Over the years I’ve seen too many brilliant doom bands like Locus Amoenus show up out of nowhere and then fade into nothingness just as surreptitiously. Here’s hoping we get more out of this camp, but if not, Sic Erat Scriptum is more than enough.

Ripping Headaches Promotions Boss' Top 5

• Ēōs - Third Demo
• Tomb Mold - The Moulting
• Devil Master demo
• A.S.M. - Demo 2016
• Sanguine Eagle - Individuation

Honorable mentions: Extended Hell - Demo 2016; Brazen Gate - Trials of the Will; High Command - The Secartha Demos

Caligari Records Boss' Top 5 (+ 1)

• YITH - Dread - Perhaps the best one man band in the US. Dude has been hard at it for the past few years, issuing demos constantly but with Dread, he finally seems to have built a more robust sound that serves his arrangements perfectly. Projects like this make me wish, lonely dudes would just get some friends and hop on the road.
• MALLEUS - Storm of Witchcraft - Pulling the necro thing is easy, but writing good tunes on top of it, not so much. Great debut; killer riffs, sloppy beats, typical degenerate vocals and an 80's aura that makes you think of how pathetic everything was and still is.
• TOMB MOLD - The Moulting - These Canadians deathheads have issued two demos this year, and both feature a sound that is close to perfection. Claustrophobic production or lack thereof. What matters is the aura and the aura is dark and dank.
• CHAIN - Subway Stabber - Classic heavy metal has never lost its charm and bands like this one from NY know that all too well because basically they just lit up the torch and are sucking at the teat of not giving a fuck. For real, listen to those vocals, that means, i can sing heavy metal, you can sing heavy metal and our moms can sing heavy metal.
• VITRIOL - s/t - Another killer death metal recording. The atmosphere is suffocating, the guitars almost make pure noise but don't get to bestial levels and the drums kind of sound like pots and pans. And oh yeah, the vocalist is deranged. Sweet, sweet death metal.
• HEXENSLAUGHT - Demo 2016 - I believe you don't need an actual recording studio to make a demo that sounds like this. You just press Record in a boombox and bash way until the beer and the coke are gone.

OBSCURE EVIL

These youngins get my pick for the most promising band and best demo to come out of this year’s recent death-thrash revival. Their debut Midnight Forces is sweet music to those ears attached to skulls wont to bang! Caligari put this one out, as well as their satanically prompt follow-up, Void Fumes.

morbiddeceiver, demo connoisseur/o.g. vocalist for Nunslaughter's Top 5

• Karst - Demo 2016
• Nefarious Spirit - Demo 2016
• Finis - At One with Nothing
• Solar Mass - Pseudomorphosis
• Ancient Rain - The Rain

Graceless Recordings Bosses' Top 5

• Nocturnal Triumph - Into Light's Graven Womb
• Ēōs - third demo
• Locus Amoenus - Sic Erat Scriptum
• Olkoth - The Immortal Depths
• Verbum - Processio Flagellates

FLAME ACAUSAL

Got a bad case of the “cry laters” over this one. Conflagrate Swedish black metal that brings to mind the days when only fire, rock and darkness populated this world. Contra Mundum in Aeternum started out as a self-released demo tape limited to 92 copies, and I deserve my fate for having slept on it. Somewhat fortunately for those of us who aren’t among the 92 dudes who quickly nabbed their copy, GoatowaRex has since reissued this insanity on 12”.  GoatowaRex is located in Beijing, and getting anything from them into the Occident is never cheap. But in the case of Flame Acausal’s Contra Mundum in Aeternum it’s unquestionably worth it.

Ancient Future Records Boss' Top 5

• HORNS & HOOVES - Consecrate the Marrow - Pure black chaos on tape.  Musically, this is fantastic black metal, but what makes this unique is the vocals.  Check this one out for sure.  Also, each tape comes with a pin and a deconsecrated (non)holy host!
• HELLREIGN- Demo ’16 - I’m not sure how I came across this, and I’m not sure if this even got a physical release.  This demo is loud, raw and brutal.
• TAPHOS - Demo MMXVI - I fucking love *good* death metal.  But so many death metal bands sound the same, so whenever one stands out from the crowd, I definitely take notice.  This demo was sent to me a few months back and I think I listen to it at least once a day.  This is well worth your money and I can’t wait to see what they release in 2017.
• L.O.R.E - Demo- Lo-fi metal that hurts your ears.  I’m a sucker for this stuff.  How something this grim comes from Florida is puzzling, but this is a good listen.
• EVICTION - Struggle With Society Demo LP- Not new at all (originally recorded in 1988!), but this classic demo tape by Pittsburgh’s EVICTION was released on vinyl this year by Mind Cure Records.  I absolutely loved this band while I was growing up and this band was the real catalyst for my interest in metal.  Eviction were a true crossover band back in the day (late 80s, early 90’s) and would open for a ton of punk bands coming through town - and also metal bands.  It was on these metal shows that I got my first taste and appreciation of a lot of good metal bands.  If it wasn’t for Eviction, there is no way I would have the love for metal that I do today.

Ghastly Apparition Records Boss' Top 5

• Naked Star - Bloodmoon Prophecy
• Obscure Evil - Midnight Forces
• Enucleator - Demo 2016
• High Command - The Secartha Demos
• Perverted Ceremony - Demo I

...plus everything I've released, but I have considered it to be far too biased thus kinda unfair to list those!

BLOOD TYRANT

Synth-haunted and judiciously raw black metal from the Netherlands. Night of the Blood Moon was originally released by The Shadow Kingdom, but copies remain available from the Tour de Garde reissue. Meanwhile these Dutchmen are already poised to release a full length on Iron Bonehead. If you’re into the wampyric black metal scene, or the necrostethic sounds emanating from Portugal as of late, Blood Tyrant’s Night of the Blood Moon is crucial to your ongoing unsurvival.

Fellow metalscribe Jon Rosenthal's Top 5

I bought a lot of tapes this year, so it was difficult for me to compile this list. It isn't in order, and I'm sure I will regret not including a few (like Old Tower, whose tape is still in the mail from Canada), but this is the nature and shortcoming of "best of" lists. I hope you find something new to listen to here.

• Rites of Thy Degringolade - "The Universe In Three Parts" [Self-Released] - New Rites of Thy Degringolade - I was lucky enough to nab one of these tapes, of which Paulus Kressman had made somewhere around thirty-five, when I saw them perform in Chicago. Their first effort as a full band (now featuring members of Amphisbaena, Antediluvian, and Svolder), "The Universe In Three Parts" is a reminder that Rites of Thy Degringolade is a force to be reckoned with. Paulus just finished recording drums for their upcoming full-length. Prepare.
• Sombre Mundus - "Demo I" [Self-Released] - Raw and melodic black metal with competent, compelling songwriting. Really can't wait to hear more from the Sombre Mundus camp.
• Ghaisiuan - "II" "III" and "IV" [Defiled Light] - Mechanized, horrific, devastating, but surprisingly beautiful brackish atmospheres. Defiled Light was a kind of "flash in the pan" this year and fizzled out after something like twenty releases, and Ghaisiuan was by and far my favorite project under that banner (followed closely by Orgy of Carrion and Bastard of Majesty Sin). Word has it there will be a proper full-length next year on their new home label Perverse Homage. Be prepared.
• Ärid - "Omen IV" [Eerie Silence] - Uniquely grating, drum-led black metal. Similar to Ghaisiuan in the sense that it, too, comes off as slightly mechanized and emotionally detached, but Ärid is more sonically aligned with Striborg's more fast-paced works. Gloriously "outsider" in nature and absolutely addicting. Eerie Silence is one of the most interesting new labels out there. I already have ten or so of their tapes. Keep up.
• Ēōs - "third demo" [Self-Released] - Devastating, powerful funeral doom in the vein of Thergothon and old Skepticism. However long-form Ēōs's work may be, and the single, twenty-one minute song which comprises this tape certainly fits into the "long-form" category, the beautiful, morose glory of their thick, organ-drenched march to the burial warrants multiple listens in one sitting.

Special Mention:

• Vpaahsalbrox - "14 Sovereign" (Re-issue) [Pale Horse Recordings] - Easily the best demo of the new century. I wish Vpaahsalbrox offered up more than the three songs found on this tape, but, even so, the chaotic, sharp, Hellish sounds of "14 Sovereign" still manage to stand alone eleven years later. Vpaahsalbrox eventually splintered into the small faction of "Pale Horse Recording-related bands" in the mid/late-2000s - Senthil, Nivathe, Absonus Noctis, and now Erraunt and Abduct, and this nightmarish impetus offers a brooding cross-section of underground black metal's most frustratingly creative minds. The since-resurrected Pale Horse Recordings released a beautiful, vinyl-only re-issue of this demo earlier this year and for some odd reason it hasn't quite sold out yet. Correct that.

Underground Soundscapes Records Boss' Top 5

• ALTAR STOMPER - Grand Offering
• ARKHTINN - II
• BLOOD TYRANT - Night Of The Blood Moon
• SORGUINAZIA - Sorguinazia
• UTZALU - Drowning In Sanguine Screams

Honorable mentions:

• CÉNOTAPHE - When Death Comes, Everything Moves
• IRON SCEPTER - Black Fucking Portal
• NIGHTWALKER - Nightwalker
• SOMBRE MUNDUS - Demo
• WORM - Nights In Hell

OLKOTH

Needly and necro black metal from the US, and that’s about all I know regarding Olkoth. Which is more than I know before just now because their demo The Immortal Depths always grabs my attention to the point that I’m far too lost in the black madness to care where this band came from. It’s no more surprising that this mysterious duo is from the US than it is that they’re from this plane of existence at all. Hails to Jake from Graceless for not only hipping me to Olkoth, but for sending me a copy of The Immortal Depths.

******

That's it for this week's retrospective Demo:listen. We'll return to our regular programming next Friday. Happy New Year! 

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