Lost your password?

Manos Spanos

KADAVAR On Their Favorite Moments Of 2013 (Video)

Manos Spanos
A four-and-a-half-minute video clip of Berlin, Germany-based classic/psychedelic rockers KADAVAR talking about their favorite moments of 2013 can be seen below. KADAVAR earlier in the year parted ways with bassist Mammut. The group commented: "After almost three years of band history, Mammut left the band due to musical and personal reasons. We believe that this decision was for the good of us all and wish him only the best for his future." Mammut sat out KADAVAR's recent tour dates and was replaced by a stand-in musician who also happens to be an old friend of the band and has now officially been named as KADAVAR's new bassist: Simon Bouteloup. "For us, Simon Bouteloup was the only replacement imaginable all along," the band said. "We've toured with his ex-band AQUA NEBULA OSCILLATOR in the past and recorded a split record with them. Afterwards, he accompanied our tours on a regular basis. In autumn of 2012 he moved from Paris to Berlin and joined THE OATH. We're happy to have him on board as a permanent member now!" KADAVAR's new lineup:
01 min read

TOOL’s JUSTIN CHANCELLOR Remembers Christmas At Home

Manos Spanos
TOOL may not be leaving a new record under the tree for fans this holiday season, but that doesn't mean that the band itself won't enjoy the break. The Pulse Of Radio asked bassist Justin Chancellor what Christmas was like around his family's home back when he was younger. "Pretty much a family affair," he said. "We'd always be together as a family and just have too much food and too much port. [laughs] Just kind of very traditional. My mother was sort of mildly religious, but the rest of us, you know, we didn't really have it forced on us. It was more of just a family time to be together that was like designated time that we would all go home." TOOL is reportedly working on its new album, with singer Maynard James Keenan recently telling Rolling Stone that it's been delayed because his bandmates take so long to assemble the music. TOOL's last album, "10,000 Days", came out in 2006. The band has toured a few times since then. Keenan has kept himself busy with his Arizona wine-making business and his band PUSCIFER, along with doing some live work and a little new music with A PERFECT CIRCLE.
01 min read

PRIMAL FEAR Guitarist MAGNUS KARLSSON To Sit Out Tour; TOM NAUMANN To Fill In

Manos Spanos
PRIMAL FEAR guitarist Magnus Karlsson will sit out the band's upcoming touring activites during 2014 so that he can spend more time with his "little kids." Filling in for him will be PRIMAL FEAR's founding member Tom Naumann. Says Karlsson: "My friends in PRIMAL FEAR are very understanding about my situation and for that I'm grateful." Frontiers Records will release "Delivering The Black", the tenth studio album from PRIMAL FEAR, on January 24 in Europe and January 28 in North America. Audio samples of all the tracks that are set to appear on the CD can be streamed at Amazon.com. After some very intense songwriting sessions and pre-production schedule, the band started to record the new CD in summer 2013 at the House Of Music studios in Germany, with bassist/producer Mat Sinner and engineer Achim Köhler (EDGUY, MASTERPLAN). The band then moved to Denmark in September to finish the album, with acclaimed producer/engineer Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, PRETTY MAIDS, AMARANTHE) handling the mix at his Hansen studio in Ribe. "Delivering The Black" combines the strongest PRIMAL FEAR moments ever, with a well-balanced typical PRIMAL FEAR trademark riff vibe, crushing songs and some very ambitious musical journeys. The centerpiece of the album are two epic tracks, "When Death Comes Knocking" and the 10-minute opus "One Night In December", spiced with big orchestral arrangements and complex sound designs. Classic and ultra-fresh PRIMAL FEAR riff-rockers like the title track, the album opener "King For A Day" or the groove monsters "Alive And On Fire" and "Road To Asylum" hit the bulls-eye just like the untamed speed killer "Rebel Faction". The outstanding ballad "Born With A Broken Heart" shows a new side of PRIMAL FEAR with an acoustic guitar vibe and the addition of Liv Kristine (LEAVES' EYES) on backing vocals.
04 min read

DEF LEPPARD Won’t Sue ONE DIRECTION For Plagiarism

Manos Spanos
According to The Pulse Of Radio, contrary to Internet rumors, DEF LEPPARD will not be suing pop group ONE DIRECTION. Some fans are up in arms over the similarities between the ONE DIRECTION chart-topper "Midnight Memories" and DEF LEPPARD's 1987 track "Pour Some Sugar On Me", which peaked at No. 2 in 1988. LEPPARD's two guitarists, "Sugar" co-writer Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell spoke to Billboard about the song, with Collen stating the songs are "very similar in structure" but nothing more. Campbell added: "The chords are one-four-five. Those are the blues. You don't get more basic than that. I think what's more reminiscent of the LEPPARD thing is the production, the sound, the vocals, the reverb and the way it's assembled. That is very flattering that all of a sudden these kids think it's a cool sound. I think a lot of people of their generation aren't going to connect their music to ours." Phil Collen said that this situation isn't the same as the similarities between and ROBIN THICKE's "Blurred Lines" and MARVIN GAYE's classic "Got to Give It Up". "That's different," he said. "In fact, it's got the mayonnaise jar and people hooting in the background which Marvin Gaye had. I don't see that you can do that. The ONE DIRECTION one is very similar in structure, but it's all good." Earlier this year, THE WHO was rumored to be contemplating a lawsuit against ONE DIRECTION for the production similarities between their "Best Song Ever" and "Baba O'Riley" — until Pete Townshend went public to dispel the rumors and state that he was flattered by them being influenced by his record. DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen told The Pulse Of Radio he and his bandmates always look forward to playing their hits out on the road. "Every night when someone's singing along — especially when there's a lot of young kids there, 16-year-olds and that — it is fresh, actually makes you feel really good when there's a whole new breed of people just singing away to songs that you've done," he said. "It doesn't really matter whether it's a new so
02 min read

ADRENALINE MOB: New Song ‘Behind These Eyes’ Available For Streaming

Manos Spanos
ADRENALINE MOB recently inked a North American deal with Century Media Records, the label the group was previously signed to only for the European territory. The band's second full-length album, "Men Of Honor", will be released February 18 in North America and February 24 internationally. ADRENALINE MOB's current lineup includes Russell Allen (vocals; also of SYMPHONY X), Mike Orlando (guitar), John Moyer (bass; also of DISTURBED), and the band's latest addition, drummer A.J. Pero (also of TWISTED SISTER). "Men Of Honor" features 11 new original songs produced by Allen and Orlando. 01. Mob Is Back 02. Come On Get Up 03. Dearly Departed 04. Behind These Eyes 05. Let It Go 06. Feel The Adrenaline 07. Men Of Honor 08. Crystal Clear 09. House Of Lies 10. Judgment Day 11. Fallin' To Pieces The song "Behind These Eyes" can now be streamed using the SoundCloud widget below. Drummer Mike Portnoy (FLYING COLORS, THE WINERY DOGS, DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD) quit ADRENALINE MOB in June due to "scheduling conflicts." In a recent interview with Brazil's "Wikimetal", Allen stated about Portnoy's departure from ADRENALINE MOB: "He's been, obviously, real busy with THE WINERY DOGS. The truth of it is we wanna keep working, we wanna keep doing ADRENALINE MOB and we don't wanna wait around for Mike to have the time [to put into ADRENALINE MOB]. And he doesn't know when he will have the time again, so that's really what's going down. Mike Portnoy was asked to be in the band by myself. Me and Orlando had already written all the material, so [ADRENALINE MOB's debut album] 'Omertá' was completely finished before Mike joined the act. And it's a bummer, but he's got his sights on other things, and he's not gonna stick around. So we wis
03 min read

DREAM THEATER Releases Free Compilation Of Live Tracks

Manos Spanos
Progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER have released the following statement: "To our fans all over the world! It is because of all of you that 'A Dramatic Tour Of Events' was such a success. We enjoyed playing to you all each and every night on the road! "As a special 'Thank You,' we are releasing a compilation of live tracks that were not included on 'Live At Luna Park'. With these now being available, you have a complete documentation of all the songs that were played during the tour (with the exception of cover songs.) "Happy Holidays, and we look forward to having you 'Along For The Ride' in 2014." CD1: 01. Under A Glass Moon (Phoenix, AZ 12/4/11) 02. Forsaken (London, UK 7/24/11) 03. Peruvian Skies (London, UK 7/24/11) 04. Endless Sacrifice (Austin, TX 10/26/11) 05. Drum Solo (Austin, TX 10/26/11) 06. YtseJam (Austin, TX 10/26/11) 07. The Great Debate (London, UK 7/24/11) CD2: 08. Another Day (Austin, TX 7/7/12) 09. Through My Words/Fatal Tragedy (Montreal, QB 10/7/11) 10. To Live Forever (Huntington, NY 7/19/12) 11. Learning To Live (Tel Aviv, Israel 7/19/11) 12. The Count Of Tuscany (London, UK 7/24/11) 13. As I Am (Shibuya, Japan 4/24/12) Concept: Rai "Weymolith" Beardsley Produced by John Petrucci Archive management and selection: James LaBrie, John Petrucci Keeper of the archives: Maddi Shieferstein Live sound engineer: Nigel Paul (Tracks 1-3, 7, 11-13) Mixing and mastering: Richard Chycki Artwork: Hugh Syme
02 min read

GOJIRA’s JOSEPH DUPLANTIER: ‘We Have 20-Something Ideas’ For Next Album

Manos Spanos
During a brand new interview with Loudwire, guitarist/vocalist Joseph Duplantier of French progressive metallers GOJIRA spoke about the band's plans for 2014. "We have a lot in our minds," he said. "There's a lot of stuff we'd like to do — some stuff I can't talk about because it's too early, but definitely a new album. We at least want to work on a new album; that's going to be really important for us. "There's a platform now for our band to release a record without thinking about anything else because the deal with Roadrunner took a lot of energy and time. It was a big deal for us because we were without a record company, without management, without a crew, without a lot of things. All we had was a lawyer and an accountant and one tech for a couple years until 2009 or 2010. "We found great management, we signed a deal with Roadrunner, we have a crew on the road — it took us a long time to settle down with people. Now we feel like, 'Okay, all we have to do now is release another album.' This is the platform for us to do it without thinking about other things." Asked if GOJIRA writes new music on the road, Joseph said: "We always wanted to write on the road and never did it. We're like, 'On this tour [with SLAYER], we have two months together on the road! Let's use this free time to write.' "I remember we toured for three months with LAMB OF GOD in 2007 and all I did was one riff, one riff! [laughs] It was impossible for us to write on the road. On this tour, for the first time we're like, 'Okay, let's do it this time. What do we need? We need speakers, a computer, keyboards so Mario [Duplantier] can do drums on the bus.' "There's no room on the bus; it's so small and we need a guitar and a bass and interface and we got all that together. "It's not easy. "When you go on tour, you think about the instrument and what's essential. It's a bit of work with all the cables and stuff so we created this small studio in the back lounge of the bus and we did write a lot of riffs this time. We have maybe 20-something ideas, cool riffs, atmospheres, intros, outros and all that stuff. So now we want to put all of this together and make and album." GOJIRA's fifth album, "L'Enfant Sauvage", sold almost 11,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 34 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band's previous CD, "The Way Of All Flesh", opened with 4,200 units back in 2008 to land at No. 138. "L'Enfant Sauvage" entered the official chart in France at position No. 7 (No. 17 on the digital chart). "L'Enfant Sauvage" (which translates to "The Wild Child") features 11 tracks of mind-bending, thunderous metal. The CD was recorded at Spin Recording Studios in Long Island City, New York with co-producer Josh Wilbur (LAMB OF GOD).
03 min read

METALLICA: Official HD Footage Of Entire Antarctica Concert

Manos Spanos
METALLICA has made the band's entire historic "Freeze 'Em All" concert in Antarctica available for viewing on the group's official YouTube channel. Check it out below. The 10-song show, which is availble for digital purchase at METALLICA's official web site, took place at an Argentinean base on the world's southernmost continent, with a small audience of fans in attendance and hearing the show through headphones. METALLICA played one of the first rock concerts ever staged in Antarctica, and became the only band to ever perform on all seven continents in one year. METALLICA's setlist was as follows: 01. Creeping Death 02. For Whom The Bell Tolls 03. Sad But True 04. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) 05. Master Of Puppets 06. One 07. Blackened 08. Nothing Else Matters 09. Enter Sandman 10. Seek & Destroy METALLICA will head into the studio in early 2014 to begin work on its 10th studio album. The band will emerge next summer for a European tour on which each night's set list will be chosen online by fans attending the gig. The band's traditional 18-song set will include the 17 top voted songs along with a brand new track. The tour, dubbed the "Metallica by Request" tour, will kick off on May 28 at the Sonisphere festival in Helsinki, Finland and travel across Europe through July 11.
01 min read

BLACK SABBATH: Belfast Concert Footage Available

Manos Spanos
Fan-filmed video footage of BLACK SABBATH's December 12 concert at Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland can be seen below (courtesy of Rock Radio NI). The band's setlist was as follows: 01. War Pigs 02. Into The Void 03. Under The Sun / Every Day Comes And Goes 04. Snowblind 05. Age Of Reason 06. Black Sabbath 07. Behind The Wall Of Sleep 08. N.I.B. 09. End Of The Beginning 10. Fairies Wear Boots 11. Rat Salad 12. Tommy Clufetos Drum Solo 13. Iron Man 14. God Is Dead? 15. Dirty Women 16. Children Of The Grave Encore: 17. Paranoid According to The Pulse Of Radio, BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi is not sure if making a follow-up to this year's reunion album, "13", would be a good idea for the group. Iommi said in Revolver magazine, "I don't know if that would be an anticlimax if we wrote another album. I'd like to, but we haven't actually spoken about it, you know? I don't know if that would be a good idea after this one, because this one's done so well. I'm sure we'd all like to do one. But I don't know. Maybe I should talk to the others about it." Bassist Geezer Butler added, "I really haven't thought about it. I'm just glad that we made this one. It can't be something where you go in and go, 'Well, that one was No. 1, so let's do another No. 1 album.' I think we'll know if we can do it or if we can't. If we have to force it, then we won't be doing it." "13", the first SABBATH album in 35 years to feature Iommi, Butler and singer Ozzy Osbourne recording together, went No. 1 around the world, earning the band their first chart-topper ever in the U.S. Ozzy said about the prospects of making another record, "I don't want to say there's going to be another album, because I don't want you to ask me in another year, 'What happened when you said you were going to do another record?' I'll leave it open. I'm open for anything. I have three albums to deliver of my own solo thing to my record label." Ozzy added, "We'll all still be doing music. It's been a lot of fun doing it with BLACK SABBATH, and I'm not sorry at all for getting back together." The making of "13" was marked by several dramatic events, including drummer Bill Ward's withdrawal from the project over a contractual dispute and Iommi's cancer diagnosis.
03 min read

Video: JON OLIVA Brings ‘Storytellers Tour’ To St. Petersburg

Manos Spanos
More than thirty years after the start of his career with SAVATAGE, and successive projects/bands like TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA and JON OLIVA'S PAIN, now-legendary songwriter and performer Jon Oliva brought his "Storytellers Tour" to State Theatre in St. Petersburg, Florida on Saturday, December 14. Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below. Oliva's recently released debut solo album, "Raise The Curtain", combines Jon's early music influences of '70s prog rock with the sound he cultivated with SAVATAGE and JON OLIVA'S PAIN. The result is a high-class, thrilling musical journey, something all lovers from rock to metal shouldn't miss. "Raise The Curtain" was released on June 21 in Europe and July 2 in North America via AFM Records. The 11-song CD, which contains ideas collected over the course of the last four or five years, was tracked this past winter at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida with producer Tom Morris, with Jon handling laying down nearly all the instrument tracks and vocals himself as well as playing drums on three songs. "Raise The Curtain" was released simply under the banner OLIVA and fans can expect a mixture of Jon's early influences and the material he wrote and recorded throughout his whole career. "Raise The Curtain" was made available as a CD digipak (first pressing) and two-LP vinyl (gatefold, limited to 800 copies worldwide).
01 min read

Manos Spanos

Manos Spanos (Metalpaths' co-editor-in-chief), eight years in this site but still can't be characterised as a metalhead.