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Manos Spanos

BLACK SABBATH Bassist On ’13 3D’ Maze: ‘It Will Probably Frighten Us All To Death’

Manos Spanos
Michelle Mills of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune recently spoke to BLACK SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler about the making of the band's new album, "13" — the first in 35 years to feature Geezer, singer Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Tony Iommi — and their current North American tour. "For the first time in years, we're finally doing some new material on stage with the new album we've got out," Butler said. "It's a definite change for us because it's the first time in 30 years that we've actually come up with something new and the crowd is really loving it. It's good playing it and it fits in really well with the old stuff." Butler also talked about the physical demands of touring and how being on the road has changed over the years. "We take it a lot easier now — we do one show on and then we have a day off," Butler said. "So we only play every other day and that keeps the whole thing much fresher instead of wearing ourselves out." Regarding the songwriting process for "13", which earned the band its first No. 1 album in the U.S., Butler said: "In the past, we'd just go to a rehearsal situation and jam until we came out with something that we liked and then we'd work on that. But this time was different because when we got together, Tony had about 40 or 50 different riffs that he had written, so we were able to pick some of those riffs and immediately have a starting point on them."
02 min read

JUDAS PRIEST Completes Writing New Album

Manos Spanos
Singer Rob Halford of British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST spoke to Billboard.com about the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for the band's long-awaited follow-up to 2008's "Nostradamus". "The writing process is complete," he said. "Now it's the painstaking work of making sure that you get every single note, every single nuance of the vocal, every tiny aspect...right. We're still tracking (instruments). It's just a very laborious but enjoyable part of making the record." Regarding the sound of the new PRIEST material, Halford said, "[It's] hard. It's heavy. It's something we think our PRIEST fans will be thrilled with. We know we have a reputation to maintain, and we know we have to deliver something really strong and solid. The album is going to be full of all the great things you love about JUDAS PRIEST — I don't think I can say anything more than that without being hung, drawn and quartered." In an interview with VH1 Radio Network's Dave Basner, Halford spoke about what fans can expect from JUDAS PRIEST's next release: "We felt it was very important to follow up 'Nostradamus', the last release, and that was a concept experiment and it was a real success for us and the fans loved it, but I think our fans and ourselves as a band, we want to get back to the side of PRIEST that we haven't heard for a few years and reemphasize and remake those big, heavy metal statements again." ]
02 min read

METALLICA’s JAMES HETFIELD: It’s A ‘Blessing’ To Be Doing What We Love After 30 Years

Manos Spanos
The four members of METALLICA took part in a press conference prior to the band's August 24 performance at Changi Exhibition Centre in Singapore. You can watch video footage of the question-and-answer session below. On how they deal with the physical demands of touring: Kirk Hammett (guitar): "I do a lot of yoga. We're all pretty physical. Rob [bassist Robert Trujillo] and I like ot surf. We just got off a week-long stint in Bali, surfing a lot. You know, it's important to keep maintenance on the road — eat well, sleep well, and just make sure the engine inside is running well. It's really important. 'Cause the last thing I wanna do is drop on stage." Robert Trujillo: "You go through transitions in life, and you have to adjust, and you have to listen to your body and you have to listen to your spirit and really focus on what that means. And you will continue to enjoy life and do things that you couldn't imagine. I mean, to be honest, at least for Kirk and I, we're surfing better than we ever have in our life right now, at our age, which is pretty cool. So if you take that to the stage as well, it's the same principle. You get up there, you play hard and you just know your body and don't push the limits too far so you don't hurt yourself." Lars Ulrich (drums): "We have two guys downstairs who take care of stretching us and putting us back into shape — our necks and our arms and everything. They're among the two hardest-working guys in rock and roll. So we take all that stuff really seriously. I mean, if you could see our [tour] rider, it's carrots and strange vegetables and nasty fruit juices. It's not what it was back in the day, thankfully. But yeah, we do take [staying healthy] very seriously. Absolutely." On how long they can keep METALLICA going: James Hetfield (guitar, vocals): "We'll do this until we don't wanna do it anymore; it's as simple as that. There's no use doing something your heart is not in. But for us, we love what we do and we're blessed that way." On what advice they would give to young, up-and-coming bands:
02 min read

ALICE COOPER Says His Current Tour Is ‘Highest-Energy Show’ Fans Will See All Year

Manos Spanos
Legendary rocker Alice Cooper recently spoke to Highway 81 Revisited about how he plans the setlist and the look for each tour. "It's so funny because it's almost the hardest thing when you're trying to please all the fans is trying to do something that everyone wants," he said. "Of course we're going to do all the hits, but then I get e-mails going, 'How come you didn't do this?' and, 'How come you didn't do that?' Everybody has their own favorite songs for their deeper cuts. So we're going to do 28 songs. That's one of the hardest parts of doing a show: What songs are we gonna put in? Once you get them in there, the easy part for me is staging it. " He continued: "This show that you're going to see this time is totally different from the show that you saw last time. That's kind of the fun part for me, putting
02 min read

WITHIN TEMPTATION: New Single Title, Lyrics Unveiled

Manos Spanos
Dutch symphonic rockers WITHIN TEMPTATION have chosen the track "Paradise (What About Us?)"as the first single from their forthcoming studio album. Check out the song's lyrics and listen to WITHIN TEMPTATION 's Ruud Jolie shredding his guitar in the video below. Having recently announced their new label home with U.K.-based Dramatico, WITHIN TEMPTATION has signed a licensing deal with Nuclear Blast Entertainment for the North American territory. "There are very few bands out there today who continually deliver on such a high and consistent level asWITHIN TEMPTATION," statedNuclear Blast EntertainmentpresidentMonte Conner. "That is why they have such an incredibly loyal worldwide fan base. I am thrilled they choseNuclear Blast Entertainmentas their U.S. partner. Their fans are in for a real treat come later this year!" Equally excited areWITHIN TEMPTATION's vocalistSharon den Adeland guitaristRobert Westerholt, who comment: "We were looking for a partnership with a passionate and artist-minded company.Monte Conner,Markus Staiger[label owner], and the people atNuclear Blastexactly fit this profile."
02 min read

WATAIN’s ‘The Wild Hunt’ Tops Official Swedish Album Chart

Manos Spanos
"The Wild Hunt", the new album from Swedish black metallers WATAIN, has entered the official chart in the band's home country at position No. 1. The CD was released on August 19 in Europe and August 20 in USA via the band's own label His Master's Noise through Century Media Records. Produced once again by Tore Stjerna at his Necromorbus studio in Alvik, Sweden,"The Wild Hunt" is a sonic and lyrical tour-de-force that explores WATAIN 's roots, such as BATHORY and DISSECTION, while also remaining truly unique. Having lost none of their integrity,WATAIN continues to push the boundaries of the scene with their fifth full-length, refusing to compromise their sound and vision. Amid the tracks teeming with the band's classic sound, "The Wild Hunt" also features clean vocals (a first for the trio!) which, as frontman Erik Danielsson puts it, "is just us being brutally personal and honest. It shows another important facet of the WATAIN world." Executed in oil and mixed materials, the cover of"The Wild Hunt" was created by Zbigniew M Bielak, the very same artist who was responsible for the "Lawless Darkness" artwork. The piece depicts one of the inmost shrines of WATAIN's temple. As on every classic still life, each object has a significant meaning, while each song of the album is also connected to an object.
03 min read

MIKE PORTNOY ‘Would Love Nothing More’ Than To Be ‘One Happy Family’ With Former Bandmates In DREAM THEATER

Manos Spanos
Drummer Mike Portnoy (THE WINERY DOGS,DREAM THEATER,AVENGED SEVENFOLD,ADRENALINE MOB) was interviewed on last night's (Friday, August 23) edition of Eddie Trunk's "Eddie Trunk Rocks" radio show on New York's Q104.3 FM. Asked if he has heard the new, self-titled album from his former bandmates in DREAM THEATER and what he thought of it,Portnoy replied: "I haven't heard the album. I know it's out there and I know they've been promoting it and I've seen a lot of the interviews. And, you know… It seems like there's a lot of excitement about it, but I really can't comment beyond that." He continued: "I actually got a really nice text today from Jordan [Rudess,DREAM THEATERkeyboardist], and got a nice text a few weeks ago from John Petrucci [DREAM THEATERguitarist], so it seems like the air is clearing and the dust is settling. Which I would love nothing more than for us to all be one happy family and friends again, so… We'll see. But I'm doing this 'Progressive Nation' cruise next year and Jordane-mailed me to congratulate me on that, and they also heard about [the success of] THE WINERY DOGS album, and they were congratulating me on that. So it's nice to be in good spirits with at least a couple of the guys." DREAM THEATER singerJames LaBrie recently ruled out the possibility of a reunion withMike, saying that Portnoy's replacement,Mike Mangini, "will be our drummer until the day that we finish doing this." On July 30, Portnoy was asked by Chile's Radio Futuro whether he would one day be willing to reunite with DREAM THEATER and rejoin the band as their drummer. "Sure," he replied. "I would do it in a heartbeat. They are the ones that have closed the door on it. I've only needed a break, and I've had that break. So I'm ready, willing and able. But I honestly don't think they ever will; they've closed their door on it and I think they're too headstrong in having to prove themselves without me. So I wouldn't count on it. But my door is always open."
04 min read

EYEHATEGOD Drummer Dies

Manos Spanos
According to numerous reports out of New Orleans, Joey LaCaze, drummer of EYEHATEGOD, OUTLAW ORDER and TEN SUICIDES, has passed away. He was 42 years old and leaves behind a wife and a child. No further details are currently available. EYEHATEGOD just completed a month-long tour of Europe and was gearing up for a string of dates in celebration of its 25th anniversary. It was recently announced that EYEHATEGOD would make an appearance at Philip Anselmo's first annual Housecore Horror Film Festival this fall in Austin, Texas. Since forming in 1988,EYEHATEGOD has defied all odds and continues to exist and persist despite personal and professional setbacks. They've been called doomcore, sludge and stoner rock, survived line-up shuffles, label hassles and a short-lived split. And after more than two decades of creating some of the most corrosive, vile music known to man, EYEHATEGOD still hasn't lost the piss and vinegar that fueled it back the late Eighties.
01 min read

DEVILDRIVER Frontman: ‘We Tend To Not Make The Same Piece Of Art Twice’

Manos Spanos
Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal of Metal Assault recently conducted an interview with vocalist Dez Fafara of California metallers DEVILDRIVER. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Metal Assault: Your new album,"Winter Kills", is coming out on August 27th via Napalm Records. I was listening to it, and I think it's pretty dynamic. It's very raw in many ways but it's also melodic. Would you say that's a fair description? Dez: Yeah, absolutely! It's got a lot of presence to it. It's upfront and not over-produced. The vocals for pretty much every single track were recorded in first takes, so it has a very "live" feel. It's full of groove and hooks, and has very tight arrangements. So yeah, that's a fair assessment. Metal Assault: Talking of the past two records,"Pray For Villains"was a pretty melodic, metalcore-type album but then"Beast"was a lot heavier, and now you are coming out with"Winter Kills". What would you say about the musical changes from album to album? Are you going heavier with each one?
04 min read

FLOOR JANSEN On Singing For NIGHTWISH: ‘It Has Been Magical And Really Amazing’

Manos Spanos
Metal Blast recently conducted an interview with former AFTER FOREVER frontwoman and current NIGHTWISH touring singer Floor Jansen about her REVAMP project as well as her time with NIGHTWISH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Metal Blast: Is singing for NIGHTWISH any different than what you used to do with your other bands or it was more like a familiar ground? Floor: It was more of the familiar. Even though I was asked and directed a little bit, I do have the freedom to give my own ideas. When you start doing it, you have to give a part of yourself, so I couldn't done it differently. I can't just imitate the previous singers. It was wonderful to see that the songs really grew on me. I don't feel like I'm singing someone else's music anymore. It really feels natural for me. Metal Blast: By the way, how was the show and filming you did withNIGHTWISH at Germany'sWacken Open Airfestival at the beginning of the month?
03 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.