• Darkthrone Announce 40th Anniversary Vinyl Set “The Fist In The Face Of God”

    Darkthrone have announced a 9-LP box set titled “The Fist In The Face Of God.” The 40th anniversary collection will be available on March 6 and it will feature remastered versions of the following albums: “A Blaze In The Northern Sky,“ “Under A Funeral Moon,” “Transilvanian Hunger,” “Panzerfaust,” “Total Death,” “Ravishing Grimness,” “Plaguewielder,” “Hate Them,” and “Sardonic Wrath.“

    The following was said about the included material:

    “With each album having received a freshly updated master courtesy of Patrick Engel at Temple of Disharmony to ensure they remain in line with the originals, each title is also supplied with their original covers & sleeve designs, & presented on heavyweight vinyl.

    Furthermore, included in the set is a 48-page book written by longtime friend of the band, Harald Fossberg, detailing the career of Darkthrone through this essential period for the band’s development & output, & contains rare images from the period. Accompanying this is a DVD with an exclusive interview with both Fenriz & Nocturno Culto also conducted by Harald Fossberg, covering the full history of the band, plus bonus features in the form of a trilogy of interviews from 2003, plus the band’s rare 1996 live show in Oslo.

    Finally, the set includes a selection of posters and art prints containing artwork and classic band photography.”

    Fenriz also commented:

    “This box celebrates 40 years through forests and over heath and includes a filmed interview with us which is as rare as chicken teeth.”

  • Old Man’s Child Tease New Song

    Old Man’s Child have shared a tease of a new track from their upcoming album. You can check that out below. Galder commented:

    “Every OMC album is different from eachother and the next will be no exemption. The next album will have a bit of it all from the fastest I have ever made to more melodic and atmospheric stuff. Here’s a little demo taste of one I just finnished, its kind of a slow oddball but need that too. Been very busy last year but working hard now to finnish everything up, just need a song or two more and some final tweaking. And then start to work on lyrics. Maybe post some more teasers later.:)”

  • Politicians Call For Slaughter To Prevail’s Stockholm, Sweden Show To Be Cancelled Due To The Band’s Ties To Russia

    Slaughter To Prevail are scheduled to take the stage in Stockholm, Sweden this evening (January 30), but politicians are trying to cancel the show. Officials have taken issue with the Russian metal act’s ties to their homeland amid its invasion of Ukraine. This includes the band’s use of the Russian national emblem on their merch. They also took issue with vocalist Alex Terrible for wearing Russian symbols, visiting a Russian military school, running a Russian business, participating in Russian bare-knuckle fights, etc. City councilor Christofer Fjellner accused the group of spreading propaganda. Mayor Karin Wanngård also made similar comments to SVT:

    “The city’s premises are not a place to spread anti-democratic messages. It is the organizer’s responsibility to ensure that democratic conditions are followed and the city has a dialogue with the organizer to ensure that this also happens during the event in question.”

  • Mick Mars’ Attorney On Arbitrator Ruling In Favor Of Mötley Crüe: “It’s Ridiculous”

    As previously reported, Mötley Crüe recently scored a victory amid their legal dispute with ex-guitarist Mick Mars. Arbitrator Patrick J. Walsh ruled that Mars gave up his right to touring revenue upon his departure. He was also ordered to pay over $750,000 in unrecouped tour advances and had to recant his claims regarding the band’s use of pre-recorded tracks. Now, Mars’ lawyer Ed McPherson has commented on the ruling via Rolling Stone:

    “The decision is awful. It’s not fair. This band has never been fair to Mick. When Mick said ‘I can’t tour anymore because of a hideous disease, but I can still write, perform one-offs or residencies and record,’ they said, ‘Sorry, Mick. It’s been 43 years, but you’re out. Goodbye, and we don’t want to pay you anymore.’ This arbitrator said it’s fine. We need to figure out if we’re going to challenge [the decision]. It’s ridiculous. It’s just a question of whether he wants to keep pursuing this. Basically, he’s over Mötley Crüe.”

  • Deep Purple Planning To Release New Album In June

    Deep Purple are currently finishing up a new album. The effort is expected to be released in June.

    Singer Ian Gillan told Songwriting For Songwriters the following about the record:

    “Well, it’s very interesting on this one. I can’t give you too much at this stage, but it’s basically very optimistic. Let’s say there’s a general theme. It’s a fairly loose conceptual idea of the end of humanity, but not as grim as it sounds. In fact, it’s very optimistic. It’s about the metamorphosis of humanity into a metaphysical state, our next incarnation. It’s a bit too early to be doing interviews about this. I don’t mean time of day. I mean, it’s not gonna be out until June, so I don’t want to give too much away.”

    He also added the following about the songwriting process and his chemistry with guitarists:

    “It’s very important, obviously. But at the same time you’ve got to ignore it. I’ve got an idea that came to me a long time ago with DEEP PURPLE. But when you’re writing like that, as opposed to sitting down with a co-writer or on your own with a guitar and you’re writing the entire thing, then there are no boundaries, really. But with a band, you are very much confined by what you’re given. For example, the working practice of PURPLE has always been the same. We go to a place for a week or 10 days and go into the office every day — start at noon, finish at six and stop for tea at three o’clock. It’s like going to the office. And the guys just start playing, and it’s all improvised. You have no idea. If you were a listener, you’d think you might be hearing the preparation for something operatic or a mood music for a yoga or massage parlor or you might be in a jazz club or hearing some blues or rock or soul, any kind of thing that came to their mind. These are great players, and so the music evolves, as I say, and then dramatically switches into something else. So basically it’s a week-long or eight-day jam. And every now and again, somebody nods to somebody else and says, ‘Okay, that’s worth keeping,’ an idea, a mood, a rhythm, a sequence, or anything like that, and we record it and come back at the end of the session with probably 35 or 40 ideas. And the next session is much the same. We trim it down and then add some more, and trim it down to 30 ideas, and it gradually evolves. Now, I don’t have much choice, really, other than to say, ‘Well, perhaps there’s too many verses there,’ or ‘we need a little bit here’, or a section or a middle eight there or whatever. But basically it’s the guys putting the songs together. And I just have to — what I call — ride the pony. And when it comes to sitting down alone and shaping my contribution, I’ve gotta pretty much fit in. But then again, it’s easy to be overwhelmed with something like that because it’s a hell of a challenge. So I’ve got this attitude, I’ve gotta take over, I’ve gotta dominate completely and make it sound not as if I’m hopping on afterwards, but as if the whole idea came from the song first. It’s a reversal. So I’ve got complete freedom in terms of lyrics, but obviously there’s a mood thing. And it’s gotta fit with the songs. And, obviously, I liked in more recent years, particularly, to have a concept for the album that basically hangs things together. The last album was called ‘=1’ and it was all about my frustration with the complexities of life these days and so forth.”

    [via Blabbermouth]

  • Opeth Announce November Latin American Tour

    Opeth have announced a November Latin American tour. Here’s the dates:

    11/01 Santiago, Chile – Movistar Arena
    11/03 Buenos Aires, Argentina – Teatro Gran Rivadavia
    11/06 São Paulo, Brazil – Espaço Unimed
    11/08 Bogotá, Colombia – Teatro Royal Center
    11/11 Mexico City, Mexico – Arena Ciudad de México

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  • Atreyu Premiere “Ego Death” Music Video

    Atreyu have premiered a new video for their latest single “Ego Death.” The band commented:

    “Sometimes a piece of you has to die in order for you to truly live. ‘Ego Death’ is peace.”

  • Clawfinger Premiere New Song “Going Down (Like Titanic)”

    Clawfinger have premiered a new song titled “Going Down (Like Titanic).” This track is from the band’s new album, “Before We All Die,” which will be released on February 20.

    Frontman Zak Tell commented:

    “This started off as a silly braggadocious rap lyric, simply because that’s what the beat was telling me to do. It wasn’t very well thought out at all, just threading together cool words that rhymed. I guess in some ways it was about a Clawfinger comeback without me really even thinking about it, not that we’ve really been gone but it’s been a while since we released anything. I guess the question the lyric ended up asking was: What are we really coming back to, we may be awesome and all that but everything is still completely messed up. We can brag and boast but we’re still arrogant idiots heading towards a total collapse of the world as we know it.

    The Titanic chorus idea came from Jocke [Skog, keyboards]. I’m not even sure he realized what a great metaphor it was for the lyric? We’re talking about a massive ship that they said was unsinkable… that sank. Rich people partying onboard, enjoying the luxury at the top, while the less fortunate working class were stuck down below, everyone headed straight for disaster without having a clue. Does that sound familiar?”

  • Drummer Rikki Rockett On Poison: “I Do Think That We’re Gonna Do Something In ’27”

    As previously reported, Poison drummer Rikki Rockett recently claimed the band scrapped their “Look What The Cat Dragged In” 40th anniversary tour after singer Bret Michaels requested six times the money of his bandmates. However, Michaels denied those claims and said that the trek would be happening in 2027. Now, Rockett has confirmed that there are plans to hit the stage next year.

    Rockett said the following during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”:

    “You know what?! Bret and I had texted this morning. And by the way, none of this just came from me. It’s just I happened to be doing the interview because [I was being inducted into] the Metal Hall Of Fame. So I was doing the interview with New York Post, among many other outlets, but they’re the ones that had asked me about the tour. And so the reason I said what I said is because… All the information I had was the truth, from my standpoint. And a lot of people, they start assuming things. I was seeing stuff on social media: ‘Oh, Rikki has cancer again.’ Or ‘C.C.’s [DeVille, POISON guitarist] off the wagon again’ or all these different things. ‘Those guys don’t really wanna work’ and ‘Bret wants to work’. And none of those things are true. We do wanna work, all of us do wanna work. C.C.’s sober. I don’t have cancer. None of those things are true.

    But Bret’s right. We didn’t sit down at a negotiating table, really. It never did get that far. It got kiboshed at the very beginning. But I just wanted to put a sensible reason to it so that everybody understands that it wasn’t Bobby [Dall, POISON bassist], C.C. or me, any of those rumors you heard, that’s not why we weren’t touring. And so I have to answer it with something.”

    He continued when asked about his claims regarding the alleged financial dispute:

    “I was told what Bret wanted, and when you did the math, that’s how the math worked out. And I’m not trying to quarrel with Bret. And I do think that we’re gonna do something in ’27.”

    He went on to discuss the band’s 2027 tour plans:

    “That’s one of the things, main things, that Bret and I talked about. I think what we want is we wanna celebrate — it’ll be 41 years, right? — but we wanna celebrate 40-plus years with the four of us with fans. That’s what we wanna do. And it sounds. like a cheesy slogan or something, but honestly, we do. So it’s gonna happen for sure at some point. It’s not gonna happen in ’26 — we just can’t make it happen that fast — but it is gonna happen. And there’s no more of a headline to stick out there — all the low-hanging-fruit media out there that tries to find a headline — there’s nothing there, really. I said what I said, Bret said what he said, but today we’re talking about doing something in ’27, and I know Bobby wants to do it, I talk to C.C. all the time. We’re all on board. So I think it’s gonna happen. God forbid — we’re all in good health and all that stuff, so I look forward to it.”

    He also added the following about his text exchange with Michaels after being asked if it was positive:

    “It was absolutely positive. We had a good laugh. Of course we talked a little bit. I told him why that information went out, and I just told you. But there’s no second shoe to drop. Honestly, we wanna do the tour. It’s gonna be delayed now till ’27, but I think it’s gonna happen in ’27, which is perfect POISON. A 41st anniversary is, like, fricking amazing, right? [Laughs]”

    [via Blabbermouth]

  • Queen’s Brian May: “America Is A Dangerous Place At The Moment”

    It appears Queen won’t be returning to the U.S. anytime soon. Guitarist Brian May seemingly shot down the possibility of a tour in the territory, saying “America is a dangerous place at the moment.”

    May told Daily Mail the following:

    “America is a dangerous place at the moment, so you have to take that into account. It’s very sad because I feel like Queen grew up in America and we love it, but it’s not what it was. Everyone is thinking twice about going there at the moment.”

    He continued when asked about future live shows:

    “I don’t know when Queen will be back on stage — it’s an unknown. We’ll take it day by day.”

    He later added:

    “It was time to take a break and spend time with family, take stock. But never say never about not coming back, the rebuild of Queen Two is coming back, and there are a couple of things you haven’t heard.”