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Manos Spanos

JUDAS PRIEST: Audio Sample Of New Song ‘Metalizer’

Manos Spanos
An audio sample of the new JUDAS PRIEST song "Metalizer", along with footage of guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner discussing the cut, is available in the YouTube clip below. "Metalizer" is taken from JUDAS PRIEST's forthcoming studio album, "Redeemer Of Souls", which will be released in North America on July 8 (pushed up a week from the originally announced July 15) via Epic Records. The CD's title track was made available for purchase via iTunes and other digital service providers on April 29. "Redeemer Of Souls" CD track listing: 01. Dragonaut 02. Redeemer Of Souls 03. Halls Of Valhalla 04. Sword Of Damocles 05. March Of The Damned 06. Down In Flames 07. Hell & Back 08. Cold Blooded 09. Metalizer 10. Crossfire 11. Secrets Of The Dead 12. Battle Cry 13. Beginning Of The End Bonus tracks: 14. Snakebite 15. Tears Of Blood 16. Creatures 17. Bring It On 18. Never Forget "Metalizer" preview: "Battle Cry" preview: "Dragonaut" full song: "March Of The Damned" full song: "Redeemer Of Souls" full song: "Crossfire" preview: "Halls Of Valhalla" preview: "Redeemer Of Souls" album artwork:
02 min read

KING DIAMOND Announces North American Tour

Manos Spanos
KING DIAMOND has confirmed what has been rumored for several weeks: the band will return to North America for a full tour this fall! The trek, which will wrap up with the previously announced performance at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas, begins on October 11 in Atlanta, Georgia. A limited-edition KING DIAMOND jacket will be available through the SHOWstubs.com fan club presale, which begins tomorrow, June 24. Tickets will be on sale online and at box offices nationwide on Friday, June 27. KING DIAMOND singer and namesake will be joined on stage by longtime band members Andy La Rocque (guitar), Mike Wead (guitar), Hal Patino (bass) and Matt Thompson (drums). North American fans will witness the band's full European festival stage show. These will be the most ambitious and largest productions in North America in the band's entire history. KING DIAMOND North American tour dates: Oct. 11 - Atlanta, GA - Center Stage Oct. 13 - Silver Spring, MD - The Fillmore Oct. 14 - New York, NY - Best Buy Theatre Oct. 16 - Worcester, MA - Palladium Oct. 17 - Montreal, QC - Olympia Oct. 18 - Toronto, ON - The Sound Academy Oct. 19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE Oct. 21 - Chicago, IL - The Vic Theatre Oct. 22 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant Oct. 24 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre Oct. 26 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex Oct. 28 - Seattle, WA - The Moore Theatre Oct. 30 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield Oct. 31 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern Nov. 01 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues Nov. 03 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre Nov. 05 - Houston, TX - House of Blues Nov. 06 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues Nov. 08 - Austin, TX - Auditorium Shores (Fun Fun Fun Fest) A special guest support act for the tour will be announced at a later date.
02 min read

SLAYER, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES And EXODUS Announce Fall Tour

Manos Spanos
When SLAYER, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and EXODUS played a handful of dates together this past May, every date was sold out and fans experienced a night of some of the best metal on the planet. With reviews like "the best show in years that I've been blessed to witness," "a metalhead's dream come true," and "...an onslaught of heart-pounding tunes during an evening full of awesome head banging action," how could this trinity of thrash legends not join up again for a full-on road trip? So, with Scion proudly presenting, SLAYER with special guests SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and EXODUS, will hit the road this fall, kicking off November 12 in Oakland, California, playing through to December 5 in Detroit, Michigan. The confirmed itinerary is below. Said SLAYER's Tom Araya, "We are way fucking excited about hitting the road again with SUICIDAL and EXODUS. Fucking intense. See you in the fall." Added Mike Muir, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES' vocalist, "SLAYER, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and EXODUS, for only six shows? They were a blast, but everyone knew that wouldn't be enough. Now's your chance to see what everyone else was screaming about. ST definitely can't wait 'til November to do it all again!" "This monumental tour is a heavy metal collision of epic proportions," added EXODUS vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza, who has just rejoined the band. "For my first tour back with EXODUS, I'm beyond excited to be on the road with my brothers in true thrash metal! I'm also looking forward to meeting and hanging out with all of the fans on this heavy as hell tour." Confirmed dates are as follows: Nov. 12 - Fox Theatre, Oakland, CA Nov. 14 - The Forum, Los Angeles, CA Nov. 15 - Comercia Theatre, Phoenix, AZ Nov. 17 - Bricktown Events Center, Oklahoma City, OK Nov. 18 - ACL Live, Austin, TX Nov. 19 - Verizon Theatre, Dallas, TX Nov. 21 - Hard Rock Live, Orlando, FL Nov. 22 - The Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA Nov. 23 - The Fillmore, Charlotte, NC Nov. 25 - The Armory, Albany, NY Nov. 26 - Sands Events Center, Bethlehem, PA Nov. 28 - The Palladium, Worcester, MA Nov. 29 - Wellmont Theatre, Montclair, NJ Nov. 30 - Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, PA Dec. 02 - Agora Theatre, Cleveland, OH Dec. 04 - Egyptian Room, Indianapolis, IN Dec. 05 - The Fillmore, Detroit, MI
02 min read

IGOR CAVALERA: ‘It Would Have Been Cooler’ If SEPULTURA Had Ended After I Left The Band

Manos Spanos
In a late 2013 interview with Rogério of the Brazilian rock band LO-FI, ex-SEPULTURA drummer Igor Cavalera was asked about his current relationship with his former bandmates and how he looks back on his two-decade-long tenure with the group. "It's kind of weird," Igor said (see video below). "I am proud of all I accomplished with SEPULTURA, and on the other hand, I feel a little sad, you know, because I see the guys playing nowadays, and a lot of the drive and rush that we had has been lost. My brother [Max] left the band, then I left the band, so I think, in my opinion, it would have been cooler if the band had come to an end at that point. Maybe that would have been the right time for it to stop — kind of like soccer players that retire from the sport while they are still at the peak of their playing ability, [before] they start looking like they are too tired to keep playing. So it makes me sad, but on the other hand, I'm doing my own thing now." 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). In an October 2013 interview with MTV Iggy, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser stated about the split with the Cavalera brothers: "For SEPULTURA fans, there are many SEPULTURAs in their head. It's not only because Max and Igor [left]. "If you [compare] the albums that we did together, from 'Schizophrenia' to 'Roots', they are totally different bands — but the same lineup. "We all change; we all grow up. "The choice to leave the band was their choice. We never fired any musician in the group. We only fired our manager after the 'Roots' tour, and Max chose to leave and stay with her and start a solo career. He didn't care about the name during those days. He didn't fight for the name. He just turned his back and said, 'Fuck you guys; I'm better off myself.' And Igor left 10 years later; he didn't care either to fight. It's like many fathers who have children and leave them. "For [the Cavaleras], SEPULTURA is like an abandoned child. They really turned their back on us and left. But it feels great to be here and keep the SEPULTURA name strong, bringing new stuff to the albums. The SEPULTURA spirit never changed, and that's why we're still here as SEPULTURA." After Max exited SEPULTURA, there was a rift between him and Igor, one that was eventually repaired through the redemptive power of music. Some time had passed and Max and Igor were unable to resist the musical pull in their magnetic fields and their musical collaboration was renewed. The duo are back for round two with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, which released its debut album, "Inflikted", in March 2008 and follow-up effort, Blunt Force Trauma", in March 2011. CAVALERA CONSPIRACY's third album will be released this fall via Napalm Records. The CD was produced by John Gray, who has previously worked with SOULFLY. CAVALERA CONSPIRACY recently recruited Nate Newton of CONVERGE as its new bassist. Max and Igor played together for the first time in 10 years at the 10th annual D-Low Memorial Festival on August 17, 2006 at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Arizona. Igor, 43, who has been living in England with his wife Laima Leyton since 2012, says that his main focus continues to be MIXHELL, the DJ/hip hop/electro project also featuring his wife.
04 min read

MEGADETH’s DAVID ELLEFSON: My Brother’s Passing Brought DAVE MUSTAINE And I Closer Together

Manos Spanos
MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson says that his brother's recent passing after battling cancer brought Ellefson and the band's leader, Dave Mustaine, "closer together." MEGADETH canceled a number of shows last month so that David could spend time with the rest of his family as they mourned the loss of Eliot Elelfson, who died on May 19 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In a brand new interview with Lithium Magazine, David spoke about the support he has received from his longtime bandmate following his brother's cancer diagnosis, explaining: "The band was actually ready to go onstage in Buenos Aires on May 1. We were in the dressing room and Dave came up to me and said, 'Hey, man, how's your brother doing?' And I just broke down and started crying and said, 'It's not good. I just got the call today.' And, man, he rallied around me in a way that no one else did or could because he has known me for so long. He's known my family. He knew my brothers, my mother and he knew my father before he passed away. So we are as close as two brothers can be, sometimes even closer, without being blood relatives. "And it's cool and interesting how in that moment, what I just went through with my own brother passing away, in a lot of ways brought Dave and I closer together. He really rallied around me like the brother I never had, and the brother I don't have anymore. It says a lot about the bond between us and within the band. "As much as there's a lot of big stuff that goes on around MEGADETH, there's also a lot of closed-door, intimate moments where it's just the two of us or the four of us alone in a room. Especially before we go onstage, we have this 30-minute lockdown where no one comes in and no one goes out. It's just the four of us. And I tell you, my brother's passing brought all four of us in MEGADETH closer together too. And in a weird way, it was kind of a cool gift that my brother gave us on his way out."
02 min read

ELUVEITIE: Official ‘King’ Lyric Video Released

Manos Spanos
Swiss folk metallers ELUVEITIE will release their new album, "Origins", on August 5 via Nuclear Blast Records. The cover artwork for the CD was created by ELUVEITIE frontman Chrigel Glanzmann and can be seen below. The effort was once again recorded at New Sound Studio in Pfäffikon, a municipality in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland, with producer Tommy Vetterli (a.k.a. Tommy T. Baron; CORONER/ex-KREATOR guitarist). "Origins" track listing: 01. Origins 02. The Nameless 03. From Darkness 04. Celtos 05. Virunus 06. Nothing 07. The Call Of The Mountains 08. Sucellos 09. Inception 10. Vianna 11. The Silver Sister 12. King 13. The Day Of Strife 14. Ogmios 15. Carry The Torch 16. Eternity The official lyric video for the song "King" can be seen below. ELUVEITIE recently announced the addition of violinist Nicole Ansperger to the group's ranks. ELUVEITIE's last album, "Helvetios", sold 4,200 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 143 on The Billboard 200 chart. 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.
01 min read

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN Working On Live Album, DVD

Manos Spanos
Legendary Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen has revealed to Highway 81 Revisited that he is currently mixing a live album and DVD recorded at back-to-back shows in Tampa and Orlando. According to Yngwie, it'll be released in August and will probably be called "Spellbound Live". He told CitizensVoice.com about the live album and DVD: "That's a perfect example of how when I play, it's always different. Because one's from Tampa and one's from Orlando, and it's completely different." Regarding how the Guitar Gods tour, which kicked off June 12 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and also features Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal of GUNS N' ROSES and Gary Hoey, would be structured, Yngwie told Highway 81 Revisited: "A lot of people probably get the idea that I'm this extremely calculated kind of guy, and in a lot of ways I am. But when it comes to music or artistic expression, I'm very uncalculated and do things very spontaneous. If I didn't do that, I wouldn't want to do this anymore. I can't just play the same thing over and over, it would drive me crazy." He continued: "So for instance, if I do a regular show, like 20 minutes before the show, I say to the tour manager, 'Here's the setlist,' and it's not the same setlist as the night before. And I say to the tour manager, 'Print them out and put them on the stage.' So now everybody has a setlist. And once I hit the stage, I'll play a different setlist anyway. If you go to two of the shows, they're very different. This is how I keep the thing alive, this is how I stay inspired." On the topic of "Relentless", the memoir he published last year, Malmsteen said: "I felt that I had to put this on paper from the only perspective from which it could be told, which is my perspective. I'm talking about walking in the snow when I'm seven years old and wondering what the fuck am I doing here, why am I born in this fucking place? And now of course I'm looking at palm trees, so now I'm remedying that; I'm still thawing out. But the thing is, it has to be read to understand where I'm coming from." He added: "It's not just all the chicks — it was that too, you know the rock 'n' roll thing? I did all that fucking shit. Trust me. I'm a very different person now. I don't touch alcohol, I don't touch cigarettes, I don't touch drugs. I'm a very clean-living person for the last 10 years, maybe more now. I just felt it had to be told. It's so different from where I started. When I looked back, I said, fuck, that was me? It's very therapeutic as well." Yngwie's latest album, "Spellbound", was released in December 2012.
03 min read

IN FLAMES Filming ‘Rusted Nail’ Video

Manos Spanos
Swedish metallers IN FLAMES are filming a video for their new single, "Rusted Nail", today. A photo from the set of the video shoot can be seen below. "Rusted Nail" is taken from IN FLAMES' eleventh album, "Siren Charms", which will be released in the U.S. on September 9 via Sony/RED. The CD was recorded at Hansa Tonstudios (DAVID BOWIE, DEPECHE MODE, U2) in Berlin, Germany. The cover artwork was created by Blake Armstrong of Space Boy Comics and can be seen below. On June 10, IN FLAMES lead singer, Anders Fridén spoke to Finland's Kaaos TV about "Siren Charms. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "Siren Charms" track listing: 01. In Plain View 02. Everything’s Gone 03. Paralyzed 04. Through Oblivion 05. With Eyes Wide Open 06. Siren Charms 07. When The World Explodes 08. Rusted Nail 09. Dead Eyes 10. Monsters In The Ballroom 11. Filtered Truth
02 min read

HAMMERFALL: ‘Bushido’ Single Details Revealed

Manos Spanos
After taking a creative break last year, Swedish metallers HAMMERFALL are fully recharged and back with a vengeance. The band's new album, "(r)Evolution", will be released on August 29 in Europe and September 2 in North America via Nuclear Blast. The first single from "(r)Evolution", "Bushido", will be released on July 18 digitally as well as on vinyl. The song sums up the band and its history perfectly, seeing as "bushido" means "the way of the warrior" in Japanese. "Bushido" single track listing: A: Bushido B: The Way Of The Warrior (remixed by Fredrik Nordström) The artwork for "Bushido" was created by Samwise Didier and can be seen below. "(r)Evolution" represents yet another reunion of sorts for HAMMERFALL, who hired cover artist Andreas Marschall, the "father" of HAMMERFALL's mascot Hector, to design the artwork for the new CD. "(r)Evolution" track listing: 01. Hector's Hymn 02. (r)Evolution 03. Bushido 04. Live Life Loud 05. Ex Inferis 06. We Won't Back Down 07. Winter Is Coming 08. Origins 09. Tainted Metal 10. Evil Incarnate 11. Wildfire HAMMERFALL's "Gates Of Dalhalla" DVD entered the Swedish Music DVD chart at position No. 4. The set also landed on the German Music DVD chart at No. 6.
01 min read

New Song Premiere: JUDAS PRIEST’s ‘Dragonaut’

Manos Spanos
The new JUDAS PRIEST song "Dragonaut", along with footage of guitarist Richie Faulkner, discussing the cut, is available in the YouTube clip below. "Dragonaut" is taken from JUDAS PRIEST's forthcoming studio album, "Redeemer Of Souls", which will be released in North America on July 8 (pushed up a week from the originally announced July 15) via Epic Records. The CD's title track was made available for purchase via iTunes and other digital service providers on April 29. Speaking to the "Trunk Nation" show, which airs on SiriusXM's Hair Nation, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford stated about "Redeemer Of Souls": "When we finished [the] 'Epitaph' [tour], we just got so buzzed from the fans and the reaction wherever we went. Just to put the 'Epitaph' tour together, which was we tried to put a song from every record into the show, and we were living in the life of JUDAS PRIEST, all those decades, in one show, night after night on the world trek, and I think that really did something to us eternally; as musicians, it should do when you tour. So we realized that this next record really had to be really strong, full of energy, because it's relentless, the tracks are relentless. The energy that you feel off 'Redeemer Of Souls' is replicated in that direction time and time and time again." Asked whether the members of JUDAS PRIEST still feel good about "Nostradamus" six years after the album's release, Halford said: "If you look at bands of longevity, like PRIEST, you see the trail of music that we've left, I don't think we could have probably made as great a record as we have with 'Redeemer Of Souls' if we didn't have 'Nostradamus' as a reference point. It's a stepping stone to the next place. "Every record that we've made, we've tried to give it some distinction, some separate identity. 'British Steel' doesn't sound like 'Stained Class', 'Stained Class' doesn't sound like 'Painkiller', 'Painkiller' doesn't sound like 'Defenders Of The Faith'… So I think everything has its place and has its moments, and we've always fed off these different areas that we've gone into with our metal. So thanks to 'Nostradamus', we've got 'Redeemer Of Souls'." Regarding why there are five "bonus" tracks that are included on the deluxe version of "Redeemer Of Souls" and do not appear on the CD's regular version, Glenn Tipton said: "They are all great songs. The reason they are not on the album is because the 13 that we chose are very consistent with what we wanted to do, which was release an undisputable heavy metal album. The others, they are not lightweight by any chance, but they've got a different feel, a different texture. So it's not a case of trying to rip the kids off and trying to get more money for an extra album, it's just a case of, these five tracks seem to deserve to go on their own CD, and that's what we did." Added Halford: "We didn't want to drop the energy. From the opening thunder-and-lightning on 'Dragonaut' right up 'till the end of 'Battle Cry', it's just full-on, it's relentless. It's great." "Redeemer Of Souls" CD track listing: 01. Dragonaut 02. Redeemer Of Souls 03. Halls Of Valhalla 04. Sword Of Damocles 05. March Of The Damned 06. Down In Flames 07. Hell & Back 08. Cold Blooded 09. Metalizer 10. Crossfire 11. Secrets Of The Dead 12. Battle Cry 13. Beginning Of The End Bonus tracks: 14. Snakebite 15. Tears Of Blood 16. Creatures 17. Bring It On 18. Never Forget "Dragonaut" full song:
02 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.