Lost your password?

News

SCORPIONS: ‘Holiday’ Unplugged Performance Clip

Manos Spanos
SCORPIONS fans worldwide can click here to check out the exclusive worldwide premiere of the brand new live performance video for "Holiday" on USAToday.com. The never-before-seen (or heard) video is taken from the beautifully orchestrated stripped-down concerts that became the SCORPIONS' forthcoming CD/DVD and Blu-ray release, "MTV Unplugged", but does not appear on any configuration of the releases. Due in North America on January 21, 2014 via Sony International, material for SCORPIONS' "MTV Unplugged" is taken from the band's first-ever "MTV Unplugged" show and features new acoustic versions of best-loved classic hits, as well as five brand new songs. "MTV Unplugged" will be available in two formats — a standard CD and a deluxe version featuring CD + DVD. "MTV Unplugged" will be released in 50 countries, a testament to the German band's iconic status worldwide. Recorded and filmed just a few months ago on September 11 and September 12 of last year, "MTV Unplugged" was culled from two dynamic acoustic sets at the Lycabettus Theatre in Athens, Greece. The spectacular open-air theatre, situated 300 meters above the city, was an impressive backdrop for the first-ever open-air show in the history of "MTV Unplugged" (the theatre also shares a birth year with the SCORPIONS themselves, having been built in 1965, the same year the SCORPIONS formed). Of the choice to film/record "MTV Unplugged" at the Lycabettus Theatre, SCORPIONS' singer/guitarist Klaus Meine commented, "We have fabulous fans all over the world, but the Greeks are absolute die-hards fans." SCORPIONS is Klaus Meine (vocals/guitar), Rudolf Schenker (guitars/vocals), Matthias Jabs (guitars), Pawel Maciwoda (bass) and James Kottak (drums); additional musical support on "MTV Unplugged" includes contributions from Swedish musicians and producers Mikael Nord Andersson (guitars, mandolin, lap steel, vocals) and Martin Hansen (guitars, harmonica, vocals). The duo is also responsible for the arrangements on "MTV Unplugged". "MTV Unplugged" track listing: CD 01. Sting In The Tail 02. Can't Live Without You 03. The Best Is Yet To Come 04. Dancing With The Moonlight (new song) 05. Delicate Dance - new song 06. Love Is The Answer (new song) 07. Follow Your Heart (new song) 08. Send Me An Angel 09. Where The River Flows 10. Rock You Like A Hurricane 11. Blackout 12. Still Loving You 13. Big City Nights 14. Wind Of Change 15. No One Like You DVD 01. Sting In The Tail 02. Can't Live Without You 03. Pictured Life 04. Speedy's Coming 05. Born To Touch Your Feelings 06. The Best Is Yet To Come 07. Dancing With The Moonlight (new song) 08. In Trance 09. When You Came Into My Life 10. Delicate Dance - new song 11. Love Is The Answer (new song) 12. Follow Your Heart (new song) 13. Send Me An Angel 14. Where The River Flows 15. Passion Rules The Game 16. Rock You Like A Hurricane 17. Hit Between The Eyes 18. Drum-Athenica 19. Rock N' Roll Band (new song) 20. Blackout 21. Still Loving You 22. Big City Nights 23. Wind Of Change 24. No One Like You 25. When The Smoke Is Going Down SCORPIONS are still in the midst of their epic farewell world tour; the tour has been going on for more than three years now. To the delight of their fans there is no end in sight, as to date the band has only played 23 out of the 38 countries planned on the itinerary. SCORPIONS is one of the most successful international hard rock bands of all time, selling upwards of 75 million records worldwide and playing more than 5,000 concerts in 80+ countries globally. Formed in Germany in 1965, the band has come to be known for its colossal radio and MTV hits "Rock You Like A Hurricane", "No One Like You" and "Wind Of Change", as well as their status as international rock ambassadors. VH1 ranked the SCORPIONS as the #46 Artist on the "Greatest Artists Of Hard Rock" special, while "Rock You Like A Hurricane" came in at #18 on VH1's "Greatest Hard Rock Songs". The band recently received a star on the Hollywood RockWalk in Los Angeles. To date, SCORPIONS have released 18 studio albums and 5 live records.
04 min read

MOTÖRHEAD: 15-Minute ‘Aftershock’ EPK Available

Manos Spanos
A 15-minute EPK (Electronic Press Kit) for MOTÖRHEAD's 21st studio album, "Aftershock", is available below. "Aftershock" sold 11,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 22 on The Billboard 200 chart. MOTÖRHEAD's previous CD, 2011's "The Wörld Is Yours", opened with 7,000 units to enter the chart at No. 94. The band's 2008 effort, "Motörizer", premiered with 6,400 copies to debut at No. 82, while 2006's "Kiss Of Death" registered a first-week tally of 3,500. "Aftershock" was recorded at NRG Studios in North Hollywood, California and is described in a press release as "a true leveler, a crushing confirmation of everything MOTÖRHEAD stands for, marching from the dust storm to deliver 14 belting statements which see MOTÖRHEAD in perhaps their best writing form for years. There's swagger, there's punch, there's speed and there's dirty filthy grooves, Lemmy Kilmister, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee showing clearly that MOTÖRHEAD is not simply a band, it's a genre!" "Aftershock" track listing: 01. Heartbreaker 02. Coup De Grace 03. Lost Woman Blues 04. End Of Time 05. Do You Believe 06. Death Machine 07. Dust And Glass 08. Going To Mexico 09. Silence When You Speak To Me 10. Crying Shame 11. Queen Of The Damned 12. Knife 13. Keep Your Powder Dry 14. Paralyzed The "Heartbreaker" video can be seen below (courtesy of RollingStone.com). The clip incorporates concert footage from this year's Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards ceremony in the U.K., a 2010 Manchester gig and several 2011 shows (including Rock In Rio, Germany's Wacken Open Air Festival and Teatro Caupolicán in Santiago, Chile). Fans who hang on for the credits at the end of "Heartbreaker" may be surprised to learn that the video's sketch art was created by frontman Lemmy Kilmister. MOTÖRHEAD canceled a handful of shows on its European festival tour in August 2013 after Lemmy suffered a haematoma (where blood collects outside of a blood vessel). The news of Lemmy's latest medical issue followed reports that he was also fitted with a defibrillator because of heart problems. The band has since also postponed a European headlining tour which was scheduled to kick off in November.
03 min read

SAXON: Lyric Video For Orchestral Version Of ‘The Eagle Has Landed’

Manos Spanos
The official lyric video for the orchestral version of the song "The Eagle Has Landed" from British heavy metal legends SAXON can be seen below. The track is taken from the band's new album, "Unplugged And Strung Up", which sold around 500 copies in the United States in its first week of release. Issued on on November 18, 2013, "Unplugged And Strung Up" reveals layers and pieces previously dormant in many of the 14 classic SAXON songs chosen for this makeover, thanks to some ear-catching new arrangements and mixes. Recorded, mixed and mastered with Andy Sneap in Derbyshire, U.K. last year, "Unplugged And Strung Up" contains re-evaluated, re-worked and re-energized versions of "The Eagle Has Landed" and "Crusader" by introducing orchestral dynamics to offer added dimension. "Frozen Rainbow", from the band's 1979 debut, gets a stunning acoustic reprisal which transports it into a power ballad to be proud of, while "Red Star Falling" soars and sweeps the emotions with its orchestrally arranged dovetail. As if this reinvention wasn't enough, SAXON superfans and collectors can purchase a digipak version of the release which includes 2002's storming set of full-volume, pedal-to-the-metal re-recorded hits "Heavy Metal Thunder". Featuring staple SAXON stormers such as "Motorcycle Man", "Strong Arm Of The Law" and "Dallas 1pm", it is a quintessential part of any collection. The standard single CD of "Unplugged And Strung Up" comes in a jewel case, and a double-vinyl gatefold sleeve version of the release is also available. The digipack is a two-disc version of the release featuring the bonus disc "Heavy Metal Thunder", and there was a digital release of the same. "Unplugged and Strung Up" track listing: 01. Stallions Of The Highway (remix) 02. Crusader (orchestral version) 03. Battle Cry 04. The Eagle Has Landed (orchestral version) 05. Red Star Falling (orchestral version) 06. Broken Heroes (orchestral version) 07. Call To Arms (orchestral version) 08. Militia Guard 09. Forever Free (re-recorded version) 10. Just Let Me Rock (re-recorded version) 11. Frozen Rainbow (acoustic version) 12. Iron Wheels (live acoustic version) 13. Requiem (acoustic version) 14. Coming Home (acoustic version) "Heavy Metal Thunder" track listing: 01. Heavy Metal Thunder 02. Strong Arm Of The Law 03. Power & The Glory 04. And The Bands Played On 05. Crusader 06. Dallas 1pm 07. Princess Of The Night 08. Wheels Of Steel 09. 747 (Strangers In The Night) 10. Motorcycle Man 11. Never Surrender 12. Denim & Leather 13. Backs To The Wall
03 min read

RIOT V Announces Guitarist, Drummer For Upcoming Tour

Manos Spanos
RIOT V, the new band featuring the surviving members of the most recent lineup of U.S. metal pioneers RIOT, is currently in rehearsals for its upcoming tour of Europe. The band is continuing on in honor of the late great founding RIOT guitarist Mark Reale, who died from complications from Crohn's Disease in early 2012 and these dates are in tribute to the axeman. The musicians decided to continue on in Mark's honor and wishes as well as the blessings from the estate of Reale to keep the music and spirit of RIOT alive. The continuing members decided to alter the name to RIOT V as the fifth chapter of the band's long history as well as Todd Michael Hall being the fifth singer following Guy Speranza (March 1956 - November 2003), Rhett Forrester (September 1956 – January 1994), Tony Moore and Mike Dimeo in the some 30-odd years of the band's existence. RIOT V heads to Italy for a string of tribute dates starting in Brescia, Italy, ending in Thessaloniki, Greece, then returning home to start recording the new record slated for a summer 2014 release. The touring band for these tribute dates are longtime members Mike Flyntz (guitar), who has been Reale's guitar partner for over 25 years, and bassist/songwriter Don Van Stavern ("Thundersteel", "Privilege Of Power", "Immortal Soul"), new vocalist Todd Michael Hall (BURNING STARR, REVERENCE) and RIOT's "Army Of One" drummer Frank Gilchriest (VIRGIN STEELE, LIEGE LORD), who will be stepping in as Bobby Jarzombek is fulfilling his duties with FATES WARNING and SEBASTIAN BACH. Although Reale can never be replaced, RIOT V has recruited former student-turned-teacher at Mike Flyntz's guitar school in Long Island, New York, 26-year-old guitar virtuoso Nick Lee, to handle the lead-guitar duties on the upcoming tour. Says Flyntz: "I have decided to have guitarist Nick Lee join us on the live shows in Europe. "The decision whether to add a guitarist or try it myself was very difficult. We did play some shows without Mark when he was sick. Although they went as well as could be expected given the circumstances, I felt it was better for the music to add a second guitarist, as Mark added me in 1989. "It is very important to me that everyone knows that Nick is not Mark's replacement. Mark Reale can never be replaced. I will be taking on Mark's parts and Nick will be doing most of my parts. "Nick studied with me weekly from ages 9 to 17. "Nick has always been a perfectionist and has always poured his heart into his music. He is a great writer and performer. I am very proud of him. He lives and breathes music and is one with his guitar. He has met Mark and saw us play live. "Nick and I are sitting and practicing in the same room at my school where Mark and I practiced and wrote for 19 years. "I know there is no one else better matched to come in and help us recreate the RIOT sound. After the first rehearsal, I was convinced that we are doing the right thing by carrying on Mark's music and legacy. "Mark's dad Tony has been involved and has advised me with every step and in all the decision-making and it has been crucial to us that we have his blessing. "At our first rehearsal playing our opener 'Narita', I actually shed a tear hearing the song that I had played so many years side by side with Mark, but know the band will shine on in his honor and not disappoint the diehard fans."
03 min read

MÖTLEY CRÜE’s ‘Final Tour’ To Feature Support From ALICE COOPER

Manos Spanos
Eddie Trunk — co-host of the VH1 Classic television program "That Metal Show" who has a long-running radio show, "Eddie Trunk Rocks" (formerly "Friday Night Rocks"), on New York's Q104.3 FM — has tweeted what appears to be the official ad for MÖTLEY CRÜE's farewell tour, apparently dubbed "The Final Tour", which will feature support from ALICE COOPER. MÖTLEY CRÜE is expected to hold a press conference in Los Angeles on January 28 during which they will announce the first details of the farewell tour, which will reportedly kick off in May and last for a couple of years. Later that night, MÖTLEY CRÜE will be the musical guest on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The band will perform several songs on the show's outdoor stage in front of a standing-room-only crowd. MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince Neil told Billboard.com back in August that the band's final tour would begin during the spring of this year and wrap up sometime in 2015. "It's just kind of that time," Neil explained. "We'll do one more time and then kinda call it quits. We're going out on top. We don't want to be some band that people are like, 'Oh, they're playing a club now.' We still sell out arenas, have stadium stuff and things like that." Neil and MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee previously made comments suggesting that guitarist Mick Mars' health issues were partly to blame for the band's decision to call it quits — something that Mars, who suffers from the spinal disease ankylosing spondilytus, has repeatedly denied. "Any rumors regarding a farewell tour due to 'my poor health' are BS. I am doing fine, my AS has never kept me from touring and never will," Mars wrote on Twitter in August. MÖTLEY CRÜE wrapped up its second Las Vegas residency at the Hard Rock Hotel's Joint last October.
02 min read

METALLICA To Start Working On New Album ‘In A Couple Of Weeks’

Manos Spanos
METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett tells Billboard.com that the band will start working on the follow-up to 2008's "Death Magnetic" "in a couple of weeks. When we start, that's going to be our main priority, and we're pretty excited about it because we've been saying we need to start working on this album, but we've been procrastinating greatly with it," he says. "We've pretty much come up with every sort of excuse we can not to start work on the album, but we've run out of excuses, so we pretty much have to start work on it now." According to Hammett, there is no shortage of ideas for METALLICA's next CD, with the guys reportedly having met up twice in the last few months to cook up some tasty riffs in the studio. "We're a band that never has a shortage of ideas," Hammett says. "You hear about these bands that are sitting in the studio and they don't have any songs, what are they gonna do? That's not METALLICA. METALLICA's problem is the total opposite. We have too many ideas. James [Hetfield, guitar/vocals] has, like, 800 ideas. I have 400. Those number alone are just crazy. That's formidable." METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich acknowledged in an interview with U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine that the band's next studio album is unlikely to arrive before 2015 at the earliest. The drummer explained: "Obviously, there are a lot of people asking where the next record is. We're going to make another record, but like I said before, we don't really feel this kind of… what's the word? I guess 'responsibility' is probably the right word. We don't feel this inherent responsibility to just churn out records whenever people want them. [Adopts a sarcastic voice] 'I'm sorry! Let me slap myself on the wrists and go make a record for you!' We'll get 'round to it again." Asked about a possible release date for METALLICA's next CD, Ulrich replied: "Actually, we know the date… no, we don't! If I was betting on this, I would say 2015 — that's where my money is. So if you think of the actual age of this planet, if it's been 75 billion years since dinosaurs walked the Earth or whatever, then one year is basically a blink of an eye, right?" Ulrich also spoke about METALLICA's mindset going into the songwriting phase for the band's next album. He explained: "The only thing I can tell you is that there seems to be a consensus in the band that [2008's] 'Death Magnetic' was a really good record that we're proud of, that had good legs on it — meaning that it still sounds really rocking five years later. And I can tell you that with most of the previous METALLICA records, I found any faults, I had any issues with them way, way sooner than five years. So the stuff that we've been jamming on is certainly not a million miles removed from where we left off from 'Death Magnetic'. But two years from now, when I sit and talk to you about the new record, it'll probably be a different story from the six-year-old looking for the ice cream shop."
03 min read

Mass Infection’s new song from upcoming album

Manos Spanos
Mass Infection prepare to dominate the death metal scene in 2014 with their new highly anticipated full length album ‘For I Am Genocide’. This is the follow up to their 2009 release ‘The Age of Recreation’. Mass Infection hails from Greece and have crushed skulls with their precision brutality since 2003. They have certainly proven to be a supreme force with their skillful and technical style of catchy death metal. Mass Infection is strongly influenced by bands like Deeds of Flesh, Hate Eternal and Severe Torture… Check the promo video bellow:
00 min read

Maplerun: Video “Bombs” Released

Manos Spanos
Maplerun are proud to present their new Official Music Video for the song ’’Bombs’’ (2014) taken from their album ’’Restless’’ which was released in October 2012 with Metal Hammer Greece. The band would like to thank Spiros Kapsilis (Director), the «Unique Sperm» crew, Timecode Productions and RedBull as well as all their friends and fans whom without the making of this video would be impossible. After playing a UK tour supporting American Head Charge the band will participate in a European tour supportting Skindred and Soil, in February 2014. The band will also be playing in Hammerfest festival this March.
00 min read

DARK TRANQUILLITY To Release ‘A Memory Construct’ Single

Manos Spanos
On their upcoming North American tour, Swedish melodic death metallers DARK TRANQUILLITY will be selling a seven-inch EP entitled "A Memory Construct", which also will be released digitally in the beginning of March. Recorded during the "Construct" sessions, the single contains the two songs, is limited to 500 copies worldwide and is available on a transparent red wax. Featured tracks are t previously unreleased "A Memory Construct" and "Sorrows Architect", previously only available as a limited flexi seven-inch released with issue #106 of Decibel magazine. Comments DARK TRANQUILLITY: "['A Memory Construct'] was originally written (as the name implies) as the title track for the 'Construct' album, but was later deemed too different to be included without interrupting the flow of the main record. "'Sorrow's Architect' is probably our darkest song in a while; a brooding track that gradually builds up to a climatic ending." DARK TRANQUILLITY's North American tour kicks off on February 1 at The Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia. DARK TRANQUILLITY's tenth studio album, "Construct", was released on May 27 via Century Media Records. The CD was mixed by Jens Bogren (PARADISE LOST, OPETH, KATATONIA) at his Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden. DARK TRANQUILLITY filmed a music video for the song "Uniformity" on April 13 with Patric Ullaeus of Revolver Film Company, who has previously worked with DIMMU BORGIR, LACUNA COIL, IN FLAMES, SONIC SYNDICATE and KAMELOT, among others. In an interview with Louder Than Hell, DARK TRANQUILLITY guitarist Niklas Sundin stated about "Construct": "A typical effect of being locked up in a studio for 2-3 months listening to every single second of the new songs over and over again is that you're getting extremely tired of the material. At the same time as you know that you've created something great, there's a part of you that never want to hear the songs again. Also, the collaborative and democratic nature of DARK TRANQUILITY means that there always are riffs and ideas that a single member doesn't find too interesting according to his personal preferences, so what normally happens directly after a studio session is that I sit down and think that the result is OK, but if X and Y would have been done differently, it would have been even better (again: for my own tastes). In this case, there were two main parameters that were different: The members' opinions on the material were a bit more uniform — i.e. no great clashes in taste — and the actual mixing process brought out a lot of details and nuances in the songs that we previously weren't aware of. The result is that I for a change actually was a massive fan of 'Construct' from the first time I heard the final mix." Asked if the band had a direction or "game plan" when entering the studio to make "Construct", Niklas said: "There never is a defined game plan as such; we usually start writing songs without knowing exactly where the music will take us. Every time we've tried to decide that the next album should go in a certain direction, it usually ends up being the complete opposite, ha ha! This time, though, we all were certain that we needed to do something different in order to find the motivation to even make a new album. It's a similar situation to the one before 'Projector' (1999) where we either could split up or do something new, and from that realization we actually succeeded in reinventing ourselves."
03 min read

BEHEMOTH: Second ‘The Satanist’ Trailer

Manos Spanos
The second of four videos on the making of "The Satanist", the long-awaited new album from Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH, can be seen below. "The Satanist" will be released on February 3 in the U.K., February 4 in North America and Poland, February 5 in Japan, and February 7 in the rest of the world. Pre-order bundles, include: CD, LP, t-shirt, as well as the deluxe box set, and are available at metalblade.com/behemoth in North America, nuclearblast.de/behemoth in Europe, and on behemoth-store.com (digibook and box). BEHEMOTH's video for the new single "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" can be seen below. This visual masterpiece was produced by Grupa 13 and is one of BEHEMOTH's most unsettling and unique works to date. BEHEMOTH frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski states about the video: "Yes, we took all the time in the world to complete this project. And we did everything that was humanely possible to accurately express our vision. We crossed the Rubicon. "'Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel' is an ecstatic manifest of our unrestrained artistic will, where we dare to reach out beyond the limitations of the heavy metal genre. And it's only the beginning." "The Satanist" deluxe box, which is available in North America as an European import, includes: CD/DVD digibook in silver mirror slipcase with a high-quality 44-page booklet (with gold foil, UV gloss lamination), supersize poster flag (approx. 3.5' x 5'), wooden black inverted rosary cross, metal pin, black envelope with black communion wafers. The DVD, "Live Barbarossa", includes a professionally filmed show in Ekaterinburg, Russia, as well as 30-minute documentary about the creative process behind "The Satanist". "The Satanist" was produced by BEHEMOTH, Wojtek and Slawek Wieslawscy and Daniel Bergstrand at Hertz Studio. The CD was mixed by Matt Hyde (SLAYER) and mastered by Ted Jensen (METALLICA, AC/DC) at Sterling Sound in New York City. The cover art for "The Satanist" was painted by renowned Russian painter and occultist Denis Forkas. The paint used included some of Nergal's own blood. Additional art and design was completed by Metastazis (PARADISE LOST) and Zbigniew Bielak (WATAIN, GHOST). "I wanted to incorporate some of my DNA into the art," Nergal told Australia's Heavy magazine about having his blood included in "The Satanist" artwork. "This album seems to be so defining of who we are now as people and as individuals, and considering all the instances in recent years, [we wanted] to make it more 'ours' than it is usually." In a recent interview with Revolver magazine, Darski described BEHEMOTH's new songs as "very atmospheric" and "very emotional." "Think BURZUM meets NEW ORDER meets KILLING JOKE," he added. But at the same time, fans shouldn't expect the album to sound too far removed from BEHEMOTH's past efforts. "Take SLAYER, for example," Darski said. "Whatever genre they deal with, they still end up sounding like SLAYER. Even when they were flirting with nu-metal, it was a SLAYER record. Same with BEHEMOTH." According to Darski, at least some of the inspiration for the new BEHEMOTH album came from his five-month bout of leukemia he overcame in January 2011, after receiving a bone-marrow transplant. "When I was in the hospital, I was collecting experiences and emotions," he said. "I'm pretty sure that it's coming out now. There are moments I catch myself thinking about how my state was back then. It was me versus life, me versus death. It definitely changed my thoughts a lot. It's 100 percent being reflected in the record and songs I'm writing nowadays. I'm way more radical than I used to be." "The Satanist" track listing: 01. Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel 02. Furor Divinus 03. Messe Noire 04. Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer 05. Amen 06. The Satanist 07. Ben Sahar 08. In the Absence ov Light 09. O Father O Satan O Sun!
05 min read