Slash (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER), David Draiman (DISTURBED, DEVICE), Gavin Rossdale (BUSH), Sebastian Bach (SKID ROW), GODSMACK, JOURNEY and Scott Ian (ANTHRAX) are among the rockers who reacted on Twitter and Facebook to the passing of actor James Gandolfini, who gained fame playing a mafia boss on HBO's "The Sopranos".
Gandolfini died earlier today (Wednesday, June 19) after suffering a possible heart attack while on holiday in Rome, Italy. He was 51 year old.
JAMES GANDOLFINI, ONE OF MY FAVORITE ACTORS OF ALL TIME. REST IN PEACE BROTHER. YOU WERE ONE OF THE GREATS.
"Dogs Of War", the 1995 album from British heavy metal legends SAXON, will be released on very limited 12-inch picture-disc vinyl on July 15 via Demon Music Group. Recorded in Boston, England, the band's twelfth studio LP was SAXON's third for Virgin Germany and was the last effort to feature guitarist Graham Oliver. The 10-track epic is a move in the heavier direction for SAXON and features rock powerhouses "Burning Wheels" and "Demolition Alley", with "monstrous artwork and trademark pounding riffs."
SAXON's latest album, "Sacrifice", was released on March 1 in Europe (except in the U.K., where it was made available on March 4) and March 26 in North America through UDR. The CD was recorded at LS Studios in Yorkshire and was produced by singer Biff Byford, with Andy Sneap mixing and engineering by Jacky Lehmann. The cover artwork was created by longtime SAXON artist Paul Raymond Gregory.
"Boiling Heart Of The North", the new video from Dark Helsinki, Finland-based metallers OCTOBER FALLS, can be seen below. The clip was directed by Håkan Sjödin, who has previously worked with MARDUK and SETHERIAL, among others.
"Boiling Heart Of The North" coms off OCTOBER FALLS' fourth album, "The Plague Of A Coming Age", which was released on March 15 on CD and vinyl via Debemur Morti Productions. According to a press release, the CD sees "the band continu[ing] to explore its exquisitely sonorous world, deeply melancholic, subtly aggressive and always divinely melodic." Once again, Mikko Lehto gathered gifted musicians around him for the recording: Marko Tarvonen (MOONSORROW) on drums and Sami Hinkka (ENSIFERUM) on bass. A very special guest contributed clean vocals on two songs: Tomi Joutsen (AMORPHIS). The visual art was imagined and painted by talented Argentinian artist Santiago Caruso.
"The Plague Of A Coming Age" track listing:
01. At the Edge Of An Empty Horizon 02. Bloodlines 03. The Verge Of Oblivion 04. Snakes Of The Old World 05. The Plague Of A Coming Age 06. Mouth Of A Nation's Harlots 07. Boiling Heart Of The North 08. The Weight Of The Fallen 09. Below The Soils
OCTOBER FALLS' current musical style is described in a press release as "a mixture of atmospheric acoustic music and harsher black metal-oriented material and could be compared to early acoustic ULVER, DRUDKH and PRIMORDIAL blended together with a personal touch and strong melodies. Still, the early acoustic side has not been completely abandoned; there have been occasional acoustic releases through the years and there will also be similar releases again at some point on the horizon."
2013 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees HEART are taking their critically acclaimed live show on the road this summer with very special guest JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE. Ann and Nancy Wilson first met Jason Bonham, son of famed LED ZEPPELIN drummer John Bonham, when they performed "Stairway To Heaven" together at the Kennedy Center Honors tribute to LED ZEPPELIN in December 2012. Over 6 million fans have watched the performance online and purchased the track on iTunes. Now, in addition to a full set of HEART classic hits, including "Crazy On You", "Barracuda", "Alone", "These Dreams", "What About Love" and many more, fans can experience this historical pairing live when HEART and Bonham close each show with a special thirty-minute finale tribute to LED ZEPPELIN.
Fan-filmed video footage of the tour's opening concert, which took place this past Monday night (June 17) at Cruzan Amphitheater in West Palm Beach, Florida can be seen below. Also available is a pre-show video interview with Bonham conducted by Andy Preston of the 98.7 The Gater radio station.
Check out photos of the concert at GaterRocks.com.
In a recent interview with Sun-Sentinel.comBonham was asked about sharing the stage with Ann and Nancy Wilson of HEART to perform "Stairway To Heaven" during the LED ZEPPELIN tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors. "When I was asked to do 'Stairway', I was, like, 'Really? 'Stairway'?'" he said. "There are some songs you just don't touch. But the arrangement with the choir, orchestra and way the whole band played was very special. Both Robert [Plant] and John Paul [Jones] were blown away by the arrangements. It was cool and different. The respect to the original was incredible and Ann and Nancy were fantastic. There were 50 people bobbing up and down wearing top hats. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you see something like this.
After the performance was viewed more than five million times on YouTube, "The demand became so great it got released on iTunes," Bonham said. "I later got a call from Live Nation asking how we could put something like this together for a show."
Regarding how the Heartbreaker Tour with HEART came about, Bonham said: "I started talking to the girls from HEART and we came up with an idea of taking my band and doing a shorter version of what I normally do and then they would do a shortened version of their show. Then, we could be together and end with my guitar player and do a 45-minute extravaganza of performing some of the greatest music from LED ZEPPELIN that there is. It's going to be a fantastic summer."
Jason also spoke about his father's enduring influence on the current crop of rock drummers, saying: "Every drummer I've ever spoken to or read an interview with — my dad is always in their top three. I'm honored to share his name and represent him all these years after he's gone. It's been fantastic."
He added: "I don't think he even realized that 33 years after he died, he'd be an icon in the drumming world and the band became what they did — bigger than ever. He's such an icon and yet he was such a simple, regular guy when he was at home."
Earlier this month, OnlineDrummer.com conducted an interview with drummer Chris Adler of Richmond, Virgina metallers LAMB OF GOD. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.
LAMB OF GOD recently announced the Metal On The Mountain retreat, set to take place July 15-19 at the Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, New York. The weeklong retreat, which is limited to 170 fans, will feature activities aimed at musicians and non-musicians alike. The curriculum, created by the band, will include guitar and drum clinics with Mark Morton, Willie Adler and Chris Adler as well as group instruction, songwriting sessions and competitions, nightly jam sessions with the band and fans, band question-and-answer session, the premiere of the LAMB OF GOD feature film scheduled for a fall theatrical release, and a full band concert the final night of the retreat. Longtime designer Ken Adams will discuss the creation of LAMB OF GOD album and t-shirt designs and band tour manager and soundman Brian Griffin will instruct fans on the art of mixing a live metal show. Non-musical activities will include motorcycle excursions with bassist John Campbell, a seminar on primitive fire building by Randy Blythe, and a casino night. Also, all of the fans will enjoy all of the amenities available at the Full Moon Resort.
For more information on the Metal On The Mountain retreat, go to MetalOnTheMountain.com.
As previously reported, Prague, Czech Republic's High Court upheld LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe's "not guilty" verdict on June 5 in connection with the death of a fan three years ago. The court's decision is final.
A three-judge panel on March 5 acquitted Blythe of manslaughter in the death of 19-year-old Daniel Nosek.
Blythe was facing the possibility of conviction and a long-term jail sentence after a May 2010 incident in which Nosek, who attended a LAMB OF GOD performance in Prague, died almost a month later, allegedly from injuries sustained when he was thrown off the stage.
Though Blythe faced up to 10 years in prison, during the closing argument, prosecutors only asked the judge for the minimum sentence of five years.
STONE SOUR and SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor signed copies of his new book, "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Heaven (Or, How I Made Peace With The Paranormal And Stigmatized Zealots And Cynics In The Process)" this past Monday (June 17) at Waterstones in London, England. Check out photos of the event in the YouTube clip below.
The book will arrive in the U.S. on July 15 from Da Capo Press and follows up 2011's "Seven Deadly Sins: Settling The Argument Between Born Bad And Damaged Good", which made the New York Times non-fiction best seller list and came out last year in paperback with additional material.
Taylor recently said about "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Heaven", "It's me trying to figure out how I can have this deep belief in the supernatural and the paranormal and stuff like that and yet I am still a pretty vocal atheist, you know? So it's me trying to find a new way to figure out what these things are."
Taylor elaborated that he doesn't think the book will please everybody. "It's essentially about all the experiences I've had with the paranormal, like ghosts and whatnot, and it was designed specifically to piss a lot of people off, to be honest, and I think it's really gonna do that," he said. "I've had more lawyers come back to me and go, 'Oooh, we don't know if you can say that,' and I've basically said, 'I don't care. Just keep it in.'"
"A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Heaven (Or, How I Made Peace With The Paranormal And Stigmatized Zealots And Cynics In The Process)" and the "House Of Gold & Bones" comic book U.S. signing events:
July 16 - Ridgewood, NJ - Bookends at 6:00 p.m. (book) July 17 - Smithtown, NY - Fourth World Comics at 4:00 p.m. (comic) July 17 - Huntington, NY – Book Revue at 7:00 p.m. (book) July 19 - West Hollywood, CA - Book Soup at 7:00 p.m. (book) July 20 - San Diego, CA - Camp Pendleton at 11:00 a.m. (book and comic)
Guitarist Jeff Kendrick of California metallers DEVILDRIVER was interviewed Monday night (June 17) at this year's Metal Hammer Golden Gods, which was held at London, England's Indigo2. Check out the chat below.
DEVILDRIVER will release its sixth album, "Winter Kills", on August 27 via Napalm Records. The instrumental parts for the CD were recorded at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida while the vocals were laid down at singer Dez Fafara's home studio, with Mark Lewis (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, WHITECHAPEL, ALL THAT REMAINS) handling production duties. The album's cover artwork features a photograph by Dean Karr. The layout was done by Ryan Clark of Invisible Creature.
"Winter Kills" will be made available in four configurations, including a deluxe digibook with CD (including two bonus tracks, "Shudder" and "Back Down To The Grave") and live DVD (featuring 45 minutes of live raw DEVILDRIVER power — no studio overdubs at all, just the band at their best — and including fan favorites "Clouds Over California" and "The Wretched"), standard CD version, digital version and, for the first time in DEVILDRIVER history, a 2LP gatefold edition (including the two bonus tracks and a digital download).
Exclusive pre-order bundle packages for "Winter Kills" are now available at IndieMerch.com. These bundle packages include designs and items that are unavailable anywhere else.
"Winter Kills" track listing:
01. The Oath 02. Ruthless 03. Desperate Times 04. Winter Kills 05. The Appetite 06. Gutted 07. Curses And Epitaph's 08. Caring's Overkill 09. Hunting Refrain 10. Tripping Over Tombstones 11. Sail 12. Shudder (deluxe-digibook bonus track) 13. Back Down To The Grave (deluxe-digibook bonus track)
DEVILDRIVER previously worked with Lewis on 2011's "Beast" and 2007's "The Last Kind Words".
Comments Fafara: "This is by far DEVILDRIVER's most cohesive, powerful, groove-laden record to date! We delivered our signature California groove sound alongside a raw and biting guitar tone, mixed it with massive hooks, added in thunderous drums to rethink, and reshape another different sounding unique piece of rock and roll!
"Cutting our own path is something to be proud of.
"DEVILDRIVER has always and will forever be about thinking outside the box and delivering on something different from record to record. We cannot be assimilated into any scene or even genre of metal, and we will continue to do things our own way with a massive middle finger in the air to the status quo!"
In an interview with Loudwire, Fafara stated about the musical direction of the band's next CD, "Every record is different. That being said, I thought 'Pray For Villains' was kind of an out-of-the-box record for us. I thought 'Beast' was a weird out-of-the-box record for us. We've kind honed back in to where we are. This new record sounds a lot like the first three records. It's got an intense groove to it, and I'm really happy. The writing is going extremely well. That being said, I think we've laid back on our laurels right now and be like, 'We're a groove band.' The fans started calling us 'the groove machine, The California groove machine.' Everybody needs a title; we'll take that one and we're going to give them that on the new record, for sure."
Tom Keifer, best known as the singer/songwriter/guitarist of the Philadelphia-based blues-rock band CINDERELLA, performed his song "Solid Ground" on last night's (Tuesday, June 18) edition of CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman". Video footage of his appearance can be seen below.
Keifer's debut solo album, "The Way Life Goes", sold 5,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 78 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released on April 30 via Merovee Records (through Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group).
The collection of 14 new songs ranges from intimate, organic, acoustic tracks to driving hard rock. It embraces the blues, rock and country roots that have always been present in his unique sound that has generated the sale of over 15 million records worldwide for CINDERELLA. Rolling Stone praised Keifer as "a gritty, bluesy (rocker) with enough genuine swagger to draw comparisons to Mick Jagger."
"This record was a labor of love," Keifer told TriCities.com. "When I started this record, CINDERELLA was in the middle of a lawsuit with Sony Records. This record is not in any way to be taken as me stepping away from CINDERELLA."
"I took a lot of time making this record," he continued. "I made it over 10 years. I wanted to make something I loved. My wife, Savannah (Snow), co-wrote a lot of the songs with me. It was a blessing to me.
"Each song has something to do with life. It's just life, love, love lost, being crazy, going crazy, being lost. The record, there's no change, really, in style. It has the peaks and valleys.
"I've always approached music, played music that I like. I've never chased trends through CINDERELLA and with this album. It reflects what's in me."
"The Flower Song", the album's first single, was serviced to AAA radio stations nationwide on February 4, while "Solid Ground" was serviced to all rock formats on March 11.
Keifer wrote "The Flower Song" with Jim Peterik, formerly of the bands SURVIVOR and the IDES OF MARCH.
"The Way Life Goes" is a raw, introspective look at the roller coaster ride that has been Keifer's life for the past 15 years. From being told that he would never sing again as a result of a partially paralyzed left vocal cord, to the emotional and personal battles that followed, his solo debut is a story of perseverance, a testament to the power of passion and will, when combined with a true love of music.
"It's pretty scary," Keifer said of his vocal paralysis. "I've had six surgeries to deal with the collateral damage. Performing… has been difficult for me because of the vocal issues I've had. I work several hours every day on that. That's a difficult thing for me every day."
Trent Reznor has tapped David Lynch to direct NINE INCH NAILS' video for the band's new single, "Came Back Haunted". Earlier today, Reznor a photo of the duo on Twitter with a caption of their initials ("tr;dl").
"Came Back Haunted" will appear on NINE INCH NAILS' new album, "Hesitation Marks", which is scheduled for release on September 3.
Reznor, who produced the soundtrack to Lynch's 1997 film "Lost Highway", told Rolling Stone magazine at the time: "I'm a huge David Lynch fan — we used to hold up NINE INCH NAILS shows just so we could watch the latest 'Twin Peaks'. So we set up a weekend for him to come to my place in New Orleans. At first, it was like the most high-pressure situation ever. It was literally one minute, 'Hi, I'm David Lynch,' and he's cooler than I even imagined he would be. Three minutes later, he's saying: 'Well, let's go in the studio and get started.'"
Six years after his NINE INCH NAILS contract with Interscope Records expired and he became an independent artist, Reznor has signed a new deal for NINE INCH NAILS with Columbia Records, marking NIN's return to the major label industry. Reznor's other act, HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS, made a deal with Columbia last year, so extending the partnership to NINE INCH NAILS doesn't seem like much of a stretch.
Reznor officially resurrected NINE INCH NAILS a few months ago after a four-year break for an extended tour that will kick off this summer.
The band is performing at a number of festivals, including Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, Leeds, Reading, Made In America and the Voodoo Festival.
The new band lineup will debut on July 26 at the Fuji Rock festival in Japan. The show will mark NINE INCH NAILS' first live performance in nearly four years.
Reznor officially put NINE INCH NAILS on hiatus after the final shows by the last version of the group in September 2009.
Since then, Reznor and collaborator Atticus Ross have scored two films, including "The Social Network", for which they won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award in 2010.
Along with Reznor's wife, singer Mariqueen Maandig, Reznor and Ross also launched HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS, whose debut disc, "Welcome Oblivion", came out in March.
A new episode of French webmagazine Hard Force's "Metal XS" features an interview with LIMP BIZKIT frontman Fred Durst conducted on June 8 at the French edition of the Sonisphere festival at Snowhall Parc in Amnéville. You can now watch the chat below.
LIMP BIZKIT recently released a new single, "Ready to Go", and is putting the finishing touches on its new studio album, "Stampede Of The Disco Elephants".
"We're really trying to get it hammered out here," LIMP BIZKIT guitarist Wes Borland told Billboard last month. "We're done with most of the music, pretty much all the music. The lyrics and vocals are probably 30 percent done, and [Fred Durst] is working as we speak, on tour."
Regarding the musical direction of LIMP BIZKIT's new CD, Borland said that the songs on "Stampede Of The Disco Elephants" have a "very live and sort of wild" feel. Moreover, fans shouldn't expect the same old LIMP BIZKIT on the album; instead, there will be quite a bit of experimentation on the effort. "I think it's a little bit more, sort of playful, taking chances, a little less pop, structured type of stuff," Borland said. "I don't want to say it [sounds] younger, but maybe a little more carefree, musically, to where we don't over-think what we’re doing."
LIMP BIZKIT and Lil Wayne's collaborative single, "Ready To Go", was released via the band's new label home, Cash Money, Lil Wayne's longtime record company.
LIMP BIZKIT in 2011 parted ways with Interscope, the label that released all of the band's records thus far through its subsidiaries Flip, Geffen and Suretone Records.
Quality fan-filmed video footage of ETHS' June 1 performance in Clamart, France can be seen below.
Singer Rachel Aspe made her live debut with ETHS on April 10 at Le Ninkasi Kao in Lyon, France.
"I was anxious to play live with them for the first time," Aspe told Greece's Rock Overdose in a recent interview. "But the crowd was very helping, it was really special because I could see their faces discovering me. It seems they mostly liked, they encouraged me all along smiling and saying my name. The two others shows were really nice too."
ETHS last year recruited Virginie Goncalves (KELLS) and Nelly Wood-Hasselhoff to handle lead vocals at the group's shows following the departure of Candice Clot.
Aspe made headlines in France last November when she performed the SYBREED song "Emma-0" on an episode of "La France À Un Incroyable Talent", the French reality television series which is part of the global British "Got Talent" franchise. Her death metal vocal styling stunned the judges and crowd before going viral and being seen by millions of people.
"It has always been my goal to be part of a band," Aspe told Rock Overdose. "One of the reasons I went to this TV show was to find one. [The show] was [taped] three months before I met ETHS, and [it originally aired shortly] after Candice left the band. So things came very fast for me. I had a job and it was hard to work on my vocals so quickly. I didn’t expect this success for the video; many bands contacted me, I did some [guest appearances] since that. People are continuing to share and comment on it."
Clot played her final show as a member of ETHS on October 13, 2012 at L'Arcade in Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, France.
ETHS' third album, "III", was released on April 6, 2012 via Season Of Mist. The CD was recorded at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden with producer Fredrik Nordström, who has previously worked with AT THE GATES, IN FLAMES, DARK TRANQUILLITY, ARCH ENEMY, SOILWORK and BRING ME THE HORIZON, among others.
"Dirty", the new video from Italo-Norwegian hard-industrial-electro extreme metallers ABORYM, can be seen below. Directed by Alberto Falcone, the clip features all three band members as well as actors, and, according to frontman and founder Fabban, the title of the track pretty much sums up the subject matter of the video.
ABORYM's sixth full-length album, "Dirty", was released on May 28 in Europe and June 11 in North America via Agonia Records. The 10-track double album (cover below) was made available in digipak, jewel case and gatefold double LP formats.
"Dirty" was recorded at the Fear No One Studios in Italy with Emiliano Natali, reprising his sound engineer role from the band's "Psychogrotesque" album, and was helmed by Marc Urselli of New York's Eastside Sound Studio, who previously worked with the likes of Mike Patton and Lou Reed. The electronic part of the album was engineered by D. Loop (KEBABTRAUME, LIMBO). R.G. Narchost (STORMCROW, DEMON'S SHADE, DROWNING ASHES) created "The Spiral Shaped Chamber" custom sounds library for the band. Artwork for the album is by ABORYM's Fabban.
The first CD of the album features new material, while the second CD features two tracks from previous albums, which have been completely re-arranged and re-recorded, covers of tracks by IRON MAIDEN, PINK FLOYD and NINE INCH NAILS, and a previously unreleased track performed by both musicians such as Agonia BV, Tamara Picardo, Samuel Heru Ra Ha MK, Hostis, Ulven, Mike Bizzini, David Cholasta, Tobias Dünnebacke, Jonathan Butcher, Jessy Lavallee, Thomas Hochstetler, Mary J. Rooks, Amanda Neilson and Mark Llewellyn, as well as several fans. The song was written by Alberto Penzin (CO2, ex-SCHIZO) and was spliced together from all the different sources.
"Dirty" track listing:
CD 1
01. Irreversible Crisis 02. Across The Universe 03. Dirty 04. Bleedthrough 05. Raped By Daddy 06. I Don't Know 07. The Factory Of Death 08. Helter Skelter Youth 09. Face The Reptile 10. The Day The Sun Stopped Shining
CD2
01. Fire Walk With Us (new version originally released on “Fire Walk With Us”) 02. Roma Divina Urbs (new version originally released on “Kali Yuga Bizarre”) 03. Hallowed Be Thy Name (IRON MAIDEN Cover) 04. Comfortably Numb (PINK FLOYD Cover) 05. Hurt (NINE INCH NAILS Cover) 06. Need For Limited Loss (new track)
Formed in 1992 by frontman Fabban, ABORYM started life as a covers band and went through several transformations, eventually pioneering what the band calls hard-industrial-electro extreme metal. Today's line up consists of Italians Fabban on vocals, bass and synths and Paolo Pieri (HOUR OF PENANCE) on guitars, keyboards and programming, along with Norway's Bård G. "Faust" Eithun (BLOOD TSUNAMI, MONGO NINJA, ex-EMPEROR) on drums.
With "Dirty" being the band's first release since 2010's "Psychogrotesque", all three musicians have something to say about it.
Pieri: "This is definitely the most schizoid and experimental ABORYM work so far. This time we focused on pushing the boundaries of electronic music one step forward while retaining the ruthless brutality of extreme metal in a way totally ahead of the times."
Eithun: "This time around, ABORYM push everything further; the electronic and industrial elements have never been so present. Rest assured, no matter how sick, twisted and beyond everything it sounds, it is still ABORYM."
Fabban: "I believe that 'Dirty' represents the best material ever written by ABORYM from 1992 until today. Given that it wasn't that easy to go beyond an album such as 'Psychogrotesque', I strongly believe that this time we did exceed every limit and every concept of experimentation — manipulating all the clichès of extreme metal, industrial or electronic music and pushing together elements that are so far away from each other. As a result, we achieved something really innovative, powerful, refined and of a really high standard. The quality of sounds, the nuances, the details passing through the recording quality; the quality of the machines that we used and abused, the quality of the lyrics, the artwork and the performances of each of us and of all the people who have worked with us, are definitely all at the top. 'Dirty' is a record that simply expands the range of our listeners, it's an album that everyone can enjoy and really appreciate. I am personally very excited and, at the same time, really proud of what you'll soon be able to listen to. We worked so hard for the past two years on this double album that we have no words to really explain how excited we are to finally see it released. It's an album that will further change the history of extreme music. Of that, I have no doubt."
The CD was released in April 2012 via SPV/Steamhammer. The effort was issued as a limited first edition in a black jewel case with silver printing and slipcase plus a 40-minute bonus DVD with a "making-of" documentary and a track-by-track commentary by RUNNING WILD mainman Rock 'N' Rolf. The double gatefold LP comes with printed innersleeves and clear vinyl. There is also a boxset limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. It contains 2 LPs, the black jewel case with the DVD, a poster, a sticker, a postcard and a 30-page book in LP size about the history of the band.
The cover of "Shadowmaker" is the most unusual in the history of the band, but when you listen to the title track and read the lyrics, you will understand the meaning of it. It was created by Rock 'N' Rolf and Jens Reinhold (EVERGREY, FREEDOM CALL, VIRGIN STEELE), who also handled artwork for all configurations.
Savannah, Georgia's BLACK TUSK will release its new EP, "Tend No Wounds", on July 23 via Relapse Records. The disc was recorded with producer Phillip Cope (KYLESA, BARONESS) at the Jam Room in Columbia, South Carolina. The artwork was created by Brian Mercer (EYEHATEGOD, LAMB OF GOD, ZOROASTER).
"Tend No Wounds" is a six-song, 20-minute blast of high-octane, raging Southern rock/metal that merges the classic original backwoods metallic hardcore BLACK TUSK sound with the newer more polished rock based tunes the band has honed after years on the road on the road with bands like BARONESS, SKELETONWITCH, MASTODON and KVELERTAK.
"Tend No Wounds" track listing:
01. A Cold Embrace 02. Enemy Of Reason 03. The Weak And The Wise 04. Internal/Eternal 05. Truth Untold 06. In Days Of Woe
The video for the song "In Days Of Woe" can be seen below.
"Tend No Wounds" will be available in CD, vinyl and digital formats and can be pre-ordered from the Relapse Records store.
BLACK TUSK has announced a handful of regional tour dates for this summer. They start July 24 in Augusta, Georgia and runs through July 27 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Revolution Harmony, the brainchild of British music lecturer/journalist Ray Holroyd, has set a July 18 release date for its debut all-star charity single, "We Are". The official lyric video for the song, which features vocals from Serj Tankian (SYSTEM OF A DOWN) and Ihsahn (EMPEROR), as well as guitar solos by Devin Townsend, can be seen below.
Composed, arranged, programmed and produced by Ray Holroyd in Vancouver, the complex international studio project was recorded in North America, England, Norway and New Zealand, then mixed by Rohan Onraet (SLIPKNOT, MACHINE HEAD) in London, and mastered by Ted Jensen (GREEN DAY, MUSE) in New York. The single also features Stefan Loh (WE CLAIMED SENTIENCE ONCE) on guitar, and additional vocals from the young up-and-coming U.K. singer Abbie Johnson.
Vancouver-based non-profit record label Revolution Harmony was launched in 2011 by Holroyd. After founding the non-profit Grade 9 Records in 2008 and growing the label over three successful years, Holroyd decided to expand upon what he had originally established as a means for his students to sell their music and donate the profits to charity, and Revolution Harmony was born. Revolution Harmony acts as a two-way channel, providing an outlet for artists to release their music worldwide and earn money from it, and providing an inlet for the label profits from that music to be redirected to charities that restore harmony between all people, animals and the environment.
The lyrical theme in "We Are" is based on the concept behind Revolution Harmony, which is essentially the belief that musical harmony has the power to inspire a revolution towards societal harmony. The single is dedicated to Nelson Mandela and the memory of Lucky Dube, regarded as South Africa's Bob Marley, and will be released worldwide on Mandela Day (July 18), with all proceeds donated to Buskaid, a charity that provides free music lessons and instruments to children in the townships of South Africa.
