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NEUROSIS In Athens For The First Time!

Panagiotis Karagiannidis
The forefathers of thunderously heavy and dynamic music, NEUROSIS have announced more live shows in Europe this summer, continuing their voyage in support of the staggering album, "Honor Found In Decay", and as part of their journey, they shall be heading to Greece, where they have never played before.
00 min read

IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR #8: Hello again, Metal God…!

Panagiotis Karagiannidis
I arrived at my hotel fairly early. Luckily, those “nicer”, more expensive hotels are more likely to have a room available even if you show up early, so I kept my fingers crossed. Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything, but we got all the paperwork done and they asked me to come back around noon. That was still 3 hours earlier than regular check-in time, so I call that flexibility and good service.
013 min read

DEATH ANGEL’s European Summer Tour Canceled

Manos Spanos
Vocalist Mark Osegueda of San Francisco Bay Area metallers DEATH ANGEL has released the following statement: "It's with a heavy heart I have to inform you that the rumors you are hearing are unfortunately true... although there is a platinum lining to this black cloud of DEATH ANGEL's 2014 summer festival season. "The platinum lining is that we are very proud to announce is DEATH ANGEL WILL be playing Hellfest [in France] this year! Hellfest will have the exclusive European DEATH ANGEL show this summer! However, our billing on that festival has been updated. We will now be playing on Sunday, June 22! (The BLACK SABBATH day!) On main stage #1 in place of MEGADETH who unfortunately had to cancel… and we plan to give that slot on the bill, and you metal fans the damage it deserves! "The dark cloud, I must announce, is the rest of our summer festival has been canceled... and canceled by us. "I assure you this has NOTHING to do with the structure or strength of the band itself! We feel the band is at its live performing peak riding on the wave of our latest album, 'The Dream Calls for Blood'! It boils down to the infrastructure of the business side of this band… Certain aspects of how this band was being handled were no longer matching up to the quality level of product we are releasing, and the live shows we've been unleashing! And if we carried on that way any longer, it would have damaged the core of what is us, and that is the band! So we are taking this time to restructure our business team to make DEATH ANGEL the strongest band that we can possibly be from the outside to the core! "The lineup is intact! The hunger is voracious! And we will be back in Europe with a full-blown tour when we feel confident that we have the full arsenal, and team behind us that this band, and its music, and, most of all, you fans, deserve! "We are doing all we can to expedite this process! "I know some of you will not understand this aspect of the art form known as music! But it is a business. And hasty business choices in this art has brought down bigger than us.... And we have NO intentions of being brought down! "Some of you will have negative comments and thoughts... But believe me, no one is more saddened and disappointed about these cancellations than us... And if you have ever seen us live, I'm sure you can attest to our love for being on stage! That being said, we'll see you at Hellfest. And we plan on giving you a performance that night that will convince the naysayers that DEATH ANGEL is here to stay and a force to be reckoned with." DEATH ANGEL's seventh album, "The Dream Calls For Blood", sold 5,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 72 on The Billboard 200 chart. DEATH ANGEL's previous CD, "Relentless Retribution", opened with 2,700 units in September 2010. The band's 2008 effort, "Killing Season", registered a first-week tally of around 2,300. This number was in line with the performance of its predecessor, "The Art of Dying", which premiered with around 2,100 copies back in May 2004. Released on October 11, 2013 in Europe (except for the U.K. where it arrived three days later) and October 15, 2013 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records, "The Dream Calls For Blood" 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), and once again features cover art by Brent Elliot White (JOB FOR A COWBOY, CARNIFEX, WHITECHAPEL).
04 min read

ARCH ENEMY Plays First Show With New Singer ALISSA WHITE-GLUZ; Video Available

Manos Spanos
Swedish / American / Canadian metallers ARCH ENEMY played their first show with new singer Alissa White-Gluz, former vocalist of THE AGONIST, last night (Friday, May 23) at Turbohalle in Bucharest, Romania. Angela Gossow, who joined ARCH ENEMY in 2000 and made her debut on the now-classic "Wages Of Sin" (2001), has stepped down as frontwoman and will focus on management, while Alissa takes her place. Fan-filmed video footage of the Bucharest concert can be seen below. Check out photos of the concert at Metalhead.ro. ARCH ENEMY, new album, "War Eternal" will be released in North America on June 10 via Century Media Records. The cover artwork was created by Costin Chioreanu. The "War Eternal" video was directed by Patric Ullaeus of Revolver Film Company, who has previously worked with DIMMU BORGIR, LACUNA COIL, IN FLAMES, SONIC SYNDICATE and KAMELOT, among others. In a recent interview with Turk Gitar, ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott stated about Angela's exit from ARCH ENEMY: "It was a sudden change for the fans; we know that. But, of course, these kind of big steps in life don't come easily, and I believe this was a gradual thing that kept growing in Angela's mind for some time. "We had decided to take 2013 off from the road and any sort of band activity. The only thing we were doing was writing music and also there always the plan to go into the studio and record at the end of 2013. As the scheduled recording time got closer, Angela informed us last year that she would definitely be stepping down from her position in the band. "To be honest, it was not such a huge surprise to the rest of us, as there were a lot of conversations of that nature leading up to that point. I made the changes in the band that were necessary for ARCH ENEMY to continue and keep the music alive." Regarding Alissa's more versatile vocal approach compared to that of Gossow, Amott said: "Alissa has many different vocal styles that she can do very well… She is much more versatile in that aspect than Angela. But for ARCH ENEMY, we are sticking with the aggressive vocal style that we are known for. "When I started the band in 1995, I had the idea to make the most heavy melodic band of all time, combining elements of extreme death metal heaviness and thrash speed alongside traditional heavy metal and hard rock influences with the harmonies, melodies and solos. We are very much staying true to these roots of the band on 'War Eternal'." Speaking to Metal Underground, Alissa had the following to say about "War Eternal": "The circumstances surrounding the creation of this album, writing the lyrics and recording it, I'm just happy to have it finally come out. I think people are going to like it. The production quality is amazing! I always wanted an album that would sound this full. I'm a really big fan of this album, myself. Even if I weren't in the band and ARCH ENEMY put out this album, I would pick it up and say it's great. I'm really excited." On the topic of the new album title, Alissa said: "This album ended up being a lot more personal than maybe some of my previous or Michael's previous lyrics. In the past, a topic like war or a political or global issue was what we normally wrote about. We were writing in two different bands, but we happen to have similar topics in our writing. Then when we were writing for this album, we had a collection of lyrics for this album, but we found that we were actually writing on similar things. Fighting the ongoing war in your day-to-day life, everybody has their battle going on that nobody else knows about. And then there are song titles like 'Never Forgive, Never Forget' and on and on, I think it ties in very nicely. It wasn't something we planned out, but that is the way it turned out, so it worked out really nicely. I think we really saw eye to eye and were experiencing similar things in our lives, so we ended up writing about the same topics even though we have different styles of writing lyrics."
05 min read

CROWBAR’s WINDSTEIN Slams Fan For ‘Disrespecting’ Him By Getting Up On Stage During MARYLAND DEATHFEST Set

Manos Spanos
**UPDATE**: Kirk Windstein has released the following statement regarding Thursday night's incident: "In regards to the fan jumping onstage during our set at Maryland Deathfest. The Maryland Deathfest organizers/venue do not allow fans to run on stage uninvited. That's their policy. They had barriers and security in plain sight to prevent that. If someone chooses to go against their policy, I have no control over that and at a show like this I'm not expecting anyone to run onto the stage, especially during 'Planets Collide'. So I'm rocking out, my eyes are closed and then I guess security tackled the fan into me. I was already on edge having driven 15 hours straight through the night without sleep to play the gig. We had no backup guitars or techs with us so if we broke a guitar or even a string, the set would have been seriously delayed or ended. At shows WITHOUT security or barricades, if you decide to run on stage or dive off it, at least be respectful, get up and dive off and try not to hit into the band or break their gear and try not to break your neck or the neck of someone else. Thanks for understanding!" The original article follows below. CROWBAR frontman Kirk Windstein slammed a fan for almost breaking "every fucking tooth" in the guitarist/vocalist's mouth during the band's concert Thursday night (May 22) at the Maryland Deathfest at Rams Head Live! in Baltimore. The incident took place while CROWBAR was performing the song "Planets Collide" and a fan made his way on stage, briefly bouncing around and clapping, with the apparent intention on jumping back into the audience. It was at this point that a large security guard came rushing from the left side of the stage, tackling the fan and nearly knocking Windstein off the podium. The band continued playing for another 15 seconds or so before Kirk asked his bandmates to stop and addressed the crowd directly. "Stop this fucking song," Windstein said (see video below; beginning around 2:25 mark). "I'm so sick of this shit. You've got motherfuckers like Randy Blythe — nicest motherfucking guy in the world. Some asshole goes into his office, fucks his fucking world up, and the guy almost goes to prison in a foreign fucking country. Do I go into your office and fuck your computer up? No. You know why? I respect you and I love you. Thank you. A lot of people think I'm a dick, go suck one, motherfucker. This is about respect. My eyes are closed, I'm playing my goddamn heart out. You could have broken every fucking tooth in my mouth. Thank you, security." During a May 2010 LAMB OF GOD show in the Czech Republic, 19-year-old concertgoer Daniel Nosek sustained a head injury that allegedly led to the fan's death. LAMB OF GOD singer Randy Blythe was charged with manslaughter in the case, but was eventually acquitted. Regarding the practice of stage diving, the presiding judge in the Blythe case stated "ninety percent of the audience" must have known that jumping off the stage was prohibited at the venue, as a barrier was in place and concert security had successfully prevented fans from hopping the barricade during the show. The judge also noted that Blythe's hand gestures calling for a round of applause could have been misunderstood as an invitation for fans to come up onto the stage. A number of rockers came to Randy's defense, with many of them citing the 2004 shooting death onstage of PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott as the reason why musicians are so defensive nowadays about fans invading the stage. DISTURBED singer David Draiman said: "The only thing [Randy] is guilty of [is being involved in] a horrible accident. Someone comes up on stage, they get thrown back into the pit. [I've] done it a hundred times myself. The fault should be in the hands of the venue security who were supposed to ensure that no one got up there. It's a dangerous thing to try." Draiman's bandmate and drummer Mike Wengren told The Pulse Of Radio not along after Dimebag was shot that his death had cast a shadow over live performing. "I think one of the most scariest things is, you go up onstage, and there's this energy transfer between the band and the crowd, and you almost feel invincible. You feel very empowered. Never in a million years would anyone ever think something like that was even possible, and I think it just caught everyone off guard. It's pretty scary."
04 min read

BLACK SABBATH’s GEEZER BUTLER On BILL WARD’s Absence From ’13’ Sessions: ‘He Just Couldn’t Do It Anymore’

Manos Spanos
BLACK SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler recently spoke to Time Out Dubai about the possibility of the band releasing another studio album to follow last year's reunion CD, "13". "We've still got four tracks left over from ['13'], so maybe we'll fill in the other four or five tracks and put out another album. If it's right. We wouldn't do it just for the sake of it, or the money or whatever. But yeah, maybe." Butler also talked about SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2012. "Tony is probably healthier than everybody else now, after all the stuff they've done to him," he said. "He's really done well, he's definitely in remission now." Regarding founding BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward, who was originally announced as part of the band's reunion album and tour in late 2011, but bowed out in early 2012 over a contract dispute, Butler said: "We started off with Bill Ward this time around and it just didn't happen… To be blatantly honest, he just couldn't do it anymore. He was thinking that we could take, like, ten years to do the album, whereas we knew we only had so long to do it and get out on tour, while you're still good at what you do. Bill was a bit unfit, and ironically in hospital with intestinal problems, so he'd have had to leave the tour anyway if we'd gone out with him." He added: "I love Bill — we all love Bill. It's a horrible thing he couldn't complete [the album]. SABBATH is SABBATH, it's the four of us. We were almost going to call the album '75 Percent' at one time [laughs], because that's what it felt like. Especially when [RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's] Brad Wilk came in drumming — that was [producer] Rick Rubin's idea to bring him in, and we thought if we're bringing a brand new drummer, why can't we have Bill? But Rick Rubin said, 'We can't be in the studio forever waiting for Bill to get it right.'" Butler was also full of praise for producer Rick Rubin, calling their working relationship "incredible — it's just like having a fifth member." He added: "Tony came out with tons and tons of riffs, we picked out what we liked, about 40 riffs that Tony had that we thought were worth doing. And then Rick came in and narrowed that down to 14 songs, and it's just like having someone who sees you from the outside after all these years. He didn't want us to come out with a typical heavy metal album. He said ‘when you started there was no such thing as heavy metal, so forget what's come after you, and go back to what you were before that, before METALLICA and all those bands, and just do what you did back then, that experience, play live in the studio as if you were onstage in a little club,' and that's what we did." BLACK SABBATH is scheduled to end the touring cycle for "13" with a massive July 4 gig at London's Hyde Park, and according to Iommi, it could be the last time SABBATH ever plays live. Iommi told Metal Hammer, "It could be the last ever SABBATH show. I don't want it to be, but there's nothing really planned touring-wise after that show, so for all we know that could be it, really." Iommi admitted that even if SABBATH does tour again, he does not want to travel as extensively as the legendary group did in the past year. He explained, "To be honest, I don't want to be touring to this extent too much longer, because it makes me feel so bad." Iommi had to return home for treatments every six weeks during most of the "13" tour, but said that it's now a matter of waiting to see whether the disease comes out of remission. He revealed, "I'm at a stage now where I have no support, which means I have to see whether the cancer is coming back or if it's still there or what. I just don't know. It's a bit of a worry. After we finish this tour, I'll go in and have scan, so we'll see what that shows up." "13", the first SABBATH album to feature Butler, Iommi and singer Ozzy Osbourne in 35 years, debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. and U.K. album charts last year. The band has not hinted if it will make another studio album, and Ozzy told The Pulse Of Radio last year that he was fine with the possibility of "13" being its last one. "For whatever reason, if we don't do another studio album, this is where I would have liked to have been at the end of SABBATH, my days with SABBATH," he said. "But life has a funny way of twisting things around, and if we do do anothe
05 min read

JUDAS PRIEST: Full New Song ‘March Of The Damned’ From ‘Redeemer Of Souls’ Album Available For Streaming

Manos Spanos
"March Of The Damned", a brand new song from British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below. The track is taken from the band's forthcoming studio album, "Redeemer Of Souls", which will be released in North America on 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. Said JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Glenn Tipton about the "March Of The Damned" track: "'March Of The Damned' is really one of my favorite songs. It's just simple and straight to the point. It's not really a song about zombies or the walking dead. It also has a reference to all the kids that come to our concerts that march along and can't be stopped. So it's not JUDAS PRIEST and the audience. With all the anthems we've done and all the singing the audience does, it's one and the same thing." "March Of The Damned" has been released to rock and metal radio and is available for purchase via all digital sales providers. Additionally, pre-orders for the "Redeemer Of Souls" album are now available through iTunes. Speaking to the "Trunk Nation" show, which airs live Mondays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST 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.
05 min read