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ADRENALINE MOB To Release New Album In February

Manos Spanos
ADRENALINE MOB is scheduled to release its sophomore album on February 18, 2014 through an as-yet-undisclosed label. The band's current lineup includes Russell Allen (vocals; also of SYMPHONY X), Mike Orlando (guitar) and John Moyer (bass; also of DISTURBED). Drummer Mike Portnoy (FLYING COLORS, THE WINERY DOGS, DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD) quit ADRENALINE MOB in June due to "scheduling conflicts." A replacement drummer has not yet been announced. The first photo of the new ADRENALINE MOB lineup can be seen below. 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 wish him the best of luck, but the MOB's gotta go on." ADRENALINE MOB released "Covertá", an eight-track EP featuring cover versions of some of the group's favorite songs, on March 12.
01 min read

RED FANG: ‘Black Water’ Song Available For Streaming

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Portland, Oregon's RED FANG has premiered "Black Water", a bonus track off the band's third studio album, "Whales And Leeches". Check it out below. "Whales And Leeches" came out on October 15 via Relapse Records. Beyond the standard CD, LP and digital formats, the effort was made available in deluxe CD, deluxe double vinyl and deluxe digital editions which will feature two bonus tracks (see the full track listing below). RED FANG have always been masters of the hard rock hook and with "Whales And Leeches", they deliver 11 killer, instantly classic anthems. "Whales And Leeches" was produced by Chris Funk (DECEMBERISTS) and mixed by Vance Powell (THE WHITE STRIPES, RACONTEURS, KINGS OF LEON). This same team worked on RED FANG's last album, "Murder The Mountains", which Alternative Press magazine hailed as "a near-masterpiece of tangled tar pit riffs and whisky-and-bong-hit vocals" (April 2011). "Whales And Leeches" sees RED FANG further maturing into top notch songwriters and musicians. With the help of guests Mike Scheidt (YOB) and Pall Jenkins (THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION), the album further propels RED FANG into the upper stratosphere of hard rock and metal elite. "Whales And Leeches" track listing: 01. DOEN 02. Blood Like Cream 03. No Hope 04. Crows In Swine 05. Voices Of The Dead 06. Behind The Light 07. Dawn Rising 08. Failure 09. 1516 10. This Animal 11. Every Little Twist Bonus tracks: 12. Murder The Mountains 13. Black Water
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DEICIDE: ‘Thou Begone’ Lyric Video Released

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Florida death metal veterans DEICIDE will release their new album, "In The Minds Of Evil", on November 25 via Century Media Records. The CD was recorded at AudioHammer Studios in Sanford, Florida with producer Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, AUGUST BURNS RED, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, ALL THAT REMAINS, WHITECHAPEL, DEVILDRIVER). "In The Minds Of Evil" track listing: 01. In The Minds Of Evil 02. Thou Begone 03. Godkill 04. Beyond Salvation 05. Misery Of One 06. Between The Flesh And The Void 07. Even The Gods Can Bleed 08. Trample The Cross 09. Banished By Evil 10. Kill The Light Of Christ 11. End The Wrath Of God The official lyric video for the song "Thou Begone" can be seen below. The cover artwork (see below) was taken from Australian artist Simon Cowell's painting Power Of The Mind, and offers a fitting face to the album's 11 tracks. DEICIDE drummer Steve Asheim recently told Decibel magazine about the band's working relationship with Suecof: "It's awesome! I've known Jason since '08. I had been going out to do the ORDER OF ENNEAD records with him. The last DEICIDE record we did with Mark [Lewis], but I've known Jason a long time, so I asked him if he was into it. He said, 'Absolutely!' I wanted to get one done ovith him before something happens. You never know." Regarding the lyrical themes covered on the new DEICIDE album, Asheim said: "[The lyrics] are typical Glen Benton. Blasphemous, brutal rhetoric. We're going to get down and dirty this Blasphemous, brutal rhetoric. We're going to get down and dirty this time around, so expect the lyrics to be brutal." According to Asheim, longtime fans will pick up on nuances inspired by the almighty "Legion" effort. "Jason wanted to capture the 'Legion' feel," the drummer said. "We're wanting Glen's vocals to sound more old-school. So, it's a bit of the new with a little throwback action." As for DEICIDE's time at Audiohammer, Asheim said: "It's pretty cut-and-dried these days. I've known Jason a few years. I kind of know his methodology, how he works. It's a far drive, so we'll spend two or three nights there. Once we knock it out, we'll end up partying. We repeat that the next day." "To Hell With God" sold 2,200 copies in the United States in its first week of release. DEICIDE's previous CD, "Till Death Do Us Part", opened with 2,900 copies back in May 2008.
02 min read

Video: ICED EARTH Performs New Song ‘If I Could See You’ In Paris

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Fan-filmed video footage of North American metallers ICED EARTH performing a brand new song, "If I Could See You", on October 25 at Bataclan in Paris, France as the support act for VOLBEAT can be seen below. ICED EARTH will release its new album, "Plagues Of Babylon", in January 2014 via Century Media Records. The cover artwork was created and illustrated by Eliran Kantor (TESTAMENT, ATHEIST, SIGH, ANACRUSIS, GWAR). Says ICED EARTH vocalist/guitarist Jon Schaffer: "This is a seriously heavy album with a seriously brutal album cover. I'm sure it will go down as a classic in the epic ICED EARTH catalog." "Plagues Of Babylon" track listing: 01. Plagues Of Babylon 02. Democide 03. The Culling 04. Among The Living Dead 05. Resistance 06. The End? 07. If I Could See You 08. Cthulhu 09. Peacemaker 10. Parasite 11. Spirit Of The Times 12. Highwayman Speaking to Metal4 magazine at the Rockharz open-air festival in Germany in July, Schaffer said about the upcoming CD: "It's a bit of a different thing for us, because it's half of a concept and the other half is [standalone] tracks. Musically, I think it's just another step in the right direction. It's really heavy, it's very melodic. It has a really epic feeling. Even though there isn't, like, a monster, long epic track, the overall feel of the songs is very epic. I mean, there's no 'Dante's Inferno' or 'Gettysburg' or the 'Something Wicked' trilogy or something like that on here, but I'm really happy with it." ICED EARTH recently parted ways with drummer Brent Smedley for "personal family reasons." He has since been replaced by Raphael Saini (CHAOSWAVE). ICED EARTH has been hitting it relentlessly, with the recent studio album, "Dystopia", being the most toured album in the band's illustrious history. One of the many highlights of the "World Dystopia Tour", a headline show at the historic Kourion Amphitheatre in Cyprus, was recently released on Blu-ray, DVD and in many other formats under the title "Live In Ancient Kourion". "Dystopia" was released in October 2011 via Century Media Records. The CD marked the band's recording debut with singer Stu Block (INTO ETERNITY), who joined ICED EARTH in March 2011 following the departure of Matt Barlow.
02 min read

NEWSTED: ‘King Of The Underdogs’ Video Released

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"King Of The Underdogs", the new video from NEWSTED — the new band featuring former METALLICA, VOIVOD and FLOTSAM AND JETSAM bassist Jason Newsted and STAIND guitarist Mike Mushok — can be seen below. The clip was filmed in September in Oakland, California with director Leon Melas, who previously helmed NEWSTED's video for the track "Soldierhead". In a recent interview with Revolver magazine, Newsted stated about the lyrical inspiration for "King Of The Underdogs": "'King Of The Underdogs' is kind of a personal thing almost. It's, like, the highest rated of the underrated. I think people are rooting for me to win as they do with underdogs." "King Of The Underdogs" is featured on NEWSTED's debut album, "Heavy Metal Music", which sold nearly 8,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 40 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was made available on August 6 in North America via Chophouse Records/Collective Sounds and August 5 in Europe through Spinefarm Records. Jason told Billboard.com the 11-song album was very similar to the band's debut EP, "Metal", which opened with around 6,200 units to debut at No. 62. "The EP was always intended to be the primer, a sampler of what was to come on the LP," he said. "It's all metal all the time. It's not all fast, but it is all heavy." Regarding how the material for NEWSTED's debut album came together, Jason told Loudwire: "It started out as my seeds for the first eleven songs that I made on my GarageBand thing. I wrote all the tracks — guitars, bass, drums, everything and gave them to Jessie [Farnsworth, guitar] and Jesus [Mendez Jr., drums] and had them go learn it, put their artistry on it and so it was collaborative in that way for the first batch. Like the four songs on the EP came from that initial eleven, so that's how those songs went. Each day as we get deeper into the songs, the collaboration gets deeper as well. I have come a long way from my tunnel vision of 'Only my ideas are good enough' bullshit, and I'm a lot more open to everyone's ideas and the artistry of each person to make it what it is. And three heads is better than one and that kind of thing. So it has become more collaborative as we go. I've written ten more since that time in October last year and a few of them have made their way onto this LP now. Once again, they were all my seeds, but now that we have Mike Mushok in the band and I give the music to all three of those guys, now I have three great artists bringing back their responses and their counterpoint playing to my ideas, so it's becoming more and more collaborative every day and on this LP there will be shared writing credits on at least half of the songs with the writing credits now." "Heavy Metal Music" track listing: 01. Heroic Dose 02. Soldierhead 03. ...As The Crow Flies 04. Ampossible 05. Long Time Dead 06. Above All 07. King Of The Underdogs 08. Nocturnus 09. Twisted Tail Of The Comet 10. Kindevillusion 11. Futureality NEWSTED took part in this year's edition of Gigantour, the critically acclaimed package festival founded in 2005 by MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. Also appearing on the bill were headliners MEGADETH, along with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, DEVICE, HELLYEAH and DEATH DIVISION.
03 min read

EYEHATEGOD Announces New Drummer

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Following an intensely moving Joey LaCaze tribute performance at the first annual Housecore Horror Film Festival this past weekend, a set which featured Dale Crover from the mighty MELVINS holding down the drum kit, EYEHATEGOD continues moving forward with new drummer Aaron Hill. Hill comes by way of New Orleans' local acts MISSING MONUMENTS and MOUNTAIN OF WIZARD. Hill will play his first official show with EYEHATEGOD tonight at the world famous House Of Shock with horror surf band THE UNNATURALS. From there, the band will ride on to take Columbus' Arosa Villa on November 1 and bring things to a chaotic close with two back-to-back nights of mischief at Chicago's Cobra Lounge November 2 and November 3. Later next month, EYEHATEGOD will stomp their way through Brooklyn, New York; West Chester, Pennsylvania; and Quincy, Massachusetts; with additional live takeovers to be announced in the weeks to come. The ever-elusive new EYEHATEGOD LP is moving closer to release, with mixes being done by renowned sound wizard Sanford Parker as we speak. LaCaze passed away on August 23 in New Orleans after a very successful five-week U.K. and European tour with EYEHATEGOD. He also performed ceremonial voodoo drumming and in numerous solo experimental electronic projects. Doctors confirmed to family members the cause as respiratory failure. He also suffered from severe long-term asthma.
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EXODUS To Enter Studio In February, Says GARY HOLT

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Bay Area Backstage conducted an interview with SLAYER touring members Gary Holt (guitar, also of EXODUS) and Paul Bostaph (drums) before the band's October 30 concert in San Joese, California. You can now watch the chat below. Asked about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the next EXODUS album, Holt said: "This [SLAYER] tour runs 'till… I get home December 1, and I've been writing for the last several months. Actually, I go home tomorrow for one day, then fly to Seattle. So when I resume this tour, I'm bringing my recording gear with me and continuing to work in hotel rooms. We're tentatively slated to start recording the next EXODUS February 1, and it's crushing — it's ridiculously fast and heavy. It's been a long time coming, so people, they're hungry and they're tired of waiting. So it's gonna be a pleasant surprise." EXODUS recently completed a European tour of 17 cities, with stops in Barcelona, Dublin, London and more. Although SLAYER tapped the talents of guitarist Gary Holt for their European tour, Holt performed at select EXODUS dates. When Holt was not performing with EXODUS, HEATHEN guitarist Kragen Lum was filling in on guitar. EXODUS' latest album, "Exhibit B: The Human Condition", was released in North America on May 18, 2010 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD sold around 4,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 114 on The Billboard 200 chart. EXODUS' previous album, "The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A", opened with 3,600 units back in October 2007.
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KERRY KING Says ‘Fans Aren’t Ready’ For GARY HOLT To Contribute Material To SLAYER

Manos Spanos
SLAYER guitarist Kerry King spoke to Canada's Metro about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's 12th studio album — the group's first since guitarist and founding member Jeff Hanneman died of liver failure on May 2. "To me, it will be business as usual as it can be," King said. "Usually by the time any idea was presented, I'd have finished it or Jeff would have it finished, so they were essentially finished songs. We'll just move forward like that. "Musically, I'm sitting on roughly 14 tunes that we can pick from and I've finished seven of those lyrically. I'm way ahead of the game compared to where I was for 'World Painted Blood' [the band's 2009 album]." Asked if SLAYER's current touring guitarist Gary Holt — who is also the lead axeman in San Francisco Bay Area's EXODUS — will play on the new SLAYER album, Kerry said: "I've told Gary that I'd like him to play some leads, just to keep it interesting. "We've always been a two-guitar attack, so if you're looking to have a segment like the 'Angel Of Death' lead trade-off, you can't do that with one guitar. "As far as Gary being a contributing writer, number one, fans aren't ready for it, and number two, that's like throwing somebody to the wolves. "I think if there's another record after this one and Gary is still with us at that point, I think that will be a time where I say, ‘Hey dude, feel free to throw any riffs my way if you're interested'." Regarding how the new SLAYER material is shaping up and whether fans can expect any surprises on the next album, Kerry said: "Fans don't want you to change. "How many fans do you think METALLICA pissed off when they did 'Load' and 'Reload'? "People like SLAYER because it's SLAYER. "You grow as a musician within your genre, not try and flip genres and become something else." In a recent interview with LA Weekly, King commented on the possibility of SLAYER's next album featuring previously unused material that was written by Hanneman prior to his death. "There's been musicians historically that passed on and had a lot of stuff put out that was unreleased during their lives," he said. "But most of it was unreleased for a reason. I don't want the last thing for people to hear from Jeff be mediocre." For his part, SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya has expressed more optimism about the prospect of the band's next effort containing some of Jeff's final ideas. "I would want to do that," Tom told Steppin' Out magazine about revisiting Hanneman's material. "When we did 'World Painted Blood', there was a Jeff composition that didn't make it on the album. We were working on trying to put that song together lyrically, but it wasn't happening, so it got shelved. But it's a great song, it's complete. We've just got to finish it lyrically. He also put a song together about a month before he passed away that I thought sounded great. His guitar abilities weren't all there, but you could hear what he was trying to do. He gave me an idea of where he wanted the verses and how he was phrasing the song."
03 min read

MACHINE HEAD: Previously Unreleased Demo Versions Of ‘Through The Ashes’ Songs Posted Online

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MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn has uploaded demo versions of the band's songs"Imperium", "Days Turn Blue To Gray" and "Descend The Shades Of Night" to the group's official YouTube channel. The final tracks were included on MACHINE HEAD's "Through The Ashes Of Empires" album, which celebrated its tenth anniversary earlier this week. In the latest installment of his online blog, "The General Journals: Diary Of A Frontman... And Other Ramblings", Flynn offered up a lengthy explanation for how the demo recordings came to life. "In May of 2002, not long after we finished the 'Supercharging America' tour, our-then-guitarist Ahrue Luster quit the band," Flynn wrote. "It seems weird even talking about theAhrue era of the band as feels like a lifetime ago, probably because it WAS a lifetime ago! Literally thousands of bands have come and gone from that era he was with us ('98-'02). We get on fine now, so I don't have anything negative to say about him other than he was just really a bizarre choice to get in the band. However, to his credit, he did bring in a some cool songs ('Blood, Sweat And Tears', parts of 'The Burning Red', parts of 'Silver' and 'Blank Generation'), but yeah, when he quit no one in the band was surprised, and most Head Cases [MACHINE HEAD fans] just went, 'Meh.' "Once he was gone, we decided to continue as a three-piece and to write and record the next album that way. It was a good decision as we weren't interested in bringing in another person, and truthfully, we couldn't think of anyone off hand if we wanted to. We figured we'd cross that bridge when touring came up, and guess what? We had some pending European festival dates coming up in June. Someone (possibly [then-bassist] Adam [Duce] or our managerJoseph [Huston]) brought up getting my old VIO-LENCE guitarist, drinking buddy and partner in crime Phil Demmel to fill in for the dates. Phil was recently back on our radar as Adam had filled in playing bass for VIO-LENCE in the summer of 2001. But Phil playing with us? At first I wasn't into the idea. After I'd quit VIO-LENCE, there was a long period where Phil and I didn't talk, things didn't end on a good note, and I blamed him for a lot of it. On top of that, I had also taken a personal vow to never to mention VIO-LENCE in interviews, advertisements, album covers, ANYTHING related to MACHINE HEAD. I wanted MACHINE HEAD to stand or fall on its own merits and I wouldn't use my previous band in any way to help sell or sink it. "When VIO-LENCE broke up, [Demmel's] next band TORQUE opened for MACHINE HEAD a few times, and later his next band TECHNOCRACY would open some shows too, but we didn't really hang out anymore. It wasn't until almost eight years later than him and I had a real heart to heart (leaving an Oakland Raiders game) that we cleared the air, and after that, we hung out a lot. Usually at football games or shows. "Once I was on board, we decided to see what he'd say, so Adam reached out to him (viaAOL AIM... anyone remember that?) and Phil came back and said, 'Yes.' In fact, he told us that it would be perfect as he had decided he was retiring from the music business. He'd been doing it for 10 years since VIO-LENCE ended and he was frustrated. He had been married for a while, had a long-standing steady job and the band thing hadn't been working so what better way to end his music career than by jamming with one of his favorite bands? His choice was a good one, he'd be jamming with his old friends, touring the world for two weeks where he'd be playing over Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson, headlining festivals to 20,000 people and then go and settle down. "It was perfect situation. We didn't want a band member and he didn't want to join a band and it was a simple agreement. Phil wheeled his stuff over from the VIO-LENCE rehearsal room (they'd recently reunited and had done a string of weekend shows, but were also getting ready to retire) and when we jammed together, it was just awesome! There was a chemistry. Something was different about the energy in the room. We all felt it. "And while I felt something, I didn't voice it, I didn't want to. "We went on tour and the first show was in Dublin, Ireland with EVILE and GAMA BOMBopening. The show was nutzo!!! About halfway through the show, I looked to my right and thought, 'Hey, I remember that guy!' There he was, stage right muggin' it up and smiling like a Cheshire cat every chance he got. The next show was a 'secret' TEN TON HAMMER show in London at The Garage (or as the Brits say 'the gair-ige') and hanging out on that small stage, jamming cover songs, annihilated on vodka, having onstage chug-a-lugs with hammered fans, and playing to a frankly insane group of Head Cases, there was something happening, something real, a connection. "And it wasn't OK to talk about it... "Because he was retiring... "And we didn't want someone in the band...
016 min read

ANTHRAX Has Seven New Songs Arranged Musically

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According to a post on the official web site of ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian, drummer Charlie Benante, bassist Frank Bello and Ian are "working hard" on material for the next ANTHRAXalbum. Ian writes: "We've had a couple of writing sessions and things are moving along well — fast for us, actually. We've got seven songs arranged musically and we're getting together again in a week and a half." He adds: "The new stuff is aggressive, fast, even riffier than the last record and some of it is difficult to play. Nothing like writing parts that are above my ability as a guitar player! When that happens, the drill sergeant in my brain yells, 'PRACTICE, YOU LAZY FUCK!' So I do. And I nail that shit. "I'm just getting into lyrics, songtitles, nothing to talk about yet." Benante recently spent time recovering from surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome. He rejoined his bandmates for their September 13 performance at "The Battle Of San Bernardino" festival in San Bernardino, California alongside IRON MAIDEN, MEGADETH, TESTAMENT, OVERKILLand SABATON. The first photo of the new ANTHRAX lineup — featuring the band's latest addition, guitaristJon Donais (SHADOWS FALL) — can be seen below (photo by Stephanie Cabral). Donais has been touring with ANTHRAX since Rob Caggiano's departure in January, and will continue to play with ANTHRAX for the foreseeable future. Speaking to Metal Hammer editor Alexander Milas for the "Metal Hammer" radio show onTeamRock Radio, Ian stated about the band's current second-guitarist situation: "Jon's been with us since February, and I think I can safely say he's passed the audition… [laughs]. I know we haven't said anything official yet, but in my mind, he's the guy. I'm sure some type of official announcement… because in this world, people apparently need that kind of information so they can sleep well at night. But as far as I'm concerned, Jon is the guitar player inANTHRAX." Donais previously stated about playing with ANTHRAX: "I grew up on ANTHRAX, they're the thrash scene, they're one of the 'Big Four,' I'd be crazy to not want to play with them. Initially,Rob called and told me he was leaving the band, and asked if I'd be interested in filling in. ThenScott called me and everything fell into place." ANTHRAX's latest studio album, "Worship Music", has sold more than 100,000 copies in the United States since its September 2011 release. Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral
03 min read