Month: March 2021

ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante has shared a reworked version of the band’s song “Inside Out” that he recorded for IK Multimedia — makers of affordable podcasting gear, speakers, mics, lighting, and more. He wrote in an accompanying message: “I used Amplitube 5, AXE I/O and iLOUD mtm speakers.”

Last November, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian told “Whiplash”, the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie, that he and his bandmates likely won’t release any music until the coronavirus pandemic has subsided and they are able to tour in support of the effort. “That’s where I am personally right at this moment,” he said. “Six months from now, who knows where the world is gonna be? We don’t know. Maybe things will be closer to being back to normal; maybe they’ll be further away from back to normal. Nobody has an answer to this, so anytime someone asks me about that, I really don’t have an answer.

“In my brain, I don’t wanna put a record out until I can play shows,” he continued. “That’s what I wanna do, but, of course, I don’t control the world and I don’t control what’s gonna happen with COVID. I think I can safely say we will certainly be ready to make a record [in 2021]. So I think we will probably go do that once we’re ready to go do it. There would be no reason to have a record [written] and then just sit around and not record it. So, I think once we actually feel like we’re ready to go into the studio, we’ll do that, regardless of where things are at on the planet, and then just take it from there. At least it’ll be in the can, and then we’ll be able to make a decision on what the best course is for us to take at that point.

“[Everybody is] in the same boat. There’s no rules anymore. It’s a completely different playbook, and everybody’s gotta figure out what’s gonna work.”

Asked to describe the musical direction of the new ANTHRAX material, Scott said: “It’s always hard for me to answer that, because it’s more ANTHRAX songs, ’cause it always just sounds like ANTHRAX to me. And I don’t really go much deeper than that. If I had to describe it, let’s say comparing it to the last record, it’s definitely riffier. There’s more riffs; the songs have more riffs, I feel like, than the last record. There’s already definitely more uptempo and fast stuff, but then again, we also aren’t finished writing. That doesn’t mean the fast stuff we’ve written is gonna go away. We’re gonna probably write more songs, and then we’ll see what the album’s gonna be. But it’s definitely riffier, and I think it’s definitely faster, if I had to come up with two ways to describe it compared to [2016’s] ‘For All Kings’.”

At the 2019 Download festival in the United Kingdom, Benante said fans can expect to hear some surprises on ANTHRAX’s next disc. “There’s some extreme stuff on this record that we touched on,” he said. “There’s different things that we’re gonna try and do that’s gonna make it next level.”

Also in 2019, Benante told Australia’s “Everblack” podcast that ANTHRAX’s new music is shaping up to be “a little more in the aggressive style.”

“For All Kings” was called by some critics ANTHRAX’s strongest album to date. Its arrival followed a five-year period during which the band experienced a rebirth of sorts, beginning with ANTHRAX’s inclusion on the “Big Four” tour, and continuing with the 2011 release of comeback LP “Worship Music”.

A crust-punk angel cries every time Discharge’s Grave New World is spun, but today we’re here to justify the punk band’s foray into glam.
The post Justify Your Shitty Taste: Discharge’s “Grave New World” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

HELLYEAH and MUDVAYNE frontman Chad Gray will release a solo single, a cover of “Always On My Mind” — a song made famous by Willie Nelson — on Friday, March 12. The track was originally recorded for his fall 2020 wedding to SiriusXM on-air personality Shannon Gunz.

Explaining his decision to record his version of the song, Gray said: “Planning a wedding is grueling — from flowers to location to picking the music. We initially chose ‘Dream On’ for our first dance song. Now I’m not sure how or why I landed on ‘Always On My Mind’. I’m assuming I heard it in passing and it stuck. I just remember late one night thinking about it and going online to search the lyrics and listen to the track. As it was playing, the lyrics were so emotional and compelling that it actually moved me.”

He continued: “So I reached out to my producer and very good friend Kevin Churko and asked if he would do a cover with me. He responded, ‘What song?’ I told him and he was like, ‘WHOA! Okay.’ So he reached out to the keyboard player for Ozzy [Osbourne], who is obviously not doing anything in this shit time we’re living in, and sent us three different takes and flavors of the song. We landed on one and started tracking it vocally. It was super cool when I started it, because I realized that this was such a different way of singing. No one has ever heard me doing anything like this.”

Gray added: “This was done for my wedding, but I thought, ‘Should I release this song to the public?’ I always talk about how I look at my fans as more than fans. They’re family, and I wanted to share this moment with them.”

The track was produced with Kevin Churko at The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas, exclusively marketed and distributed by ONErpm.

Chad and Shannon were originally scheduled to marry in April 2020, but, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they changed it to October 2020.

Last December, Gray said during a Headbangers Con live virtual panel that HELLYEAH was “in a holding pattern right now [due to the coronavirus pandemic]. I don’t have any new music,” he admitted. “I’ve been telling Tom [Maxwell, HELLYEAH guitarist] to get me some riffs so I can write, because right now is a great time to fucking write. So we’ll just have to see, man. Obviously, we need to get together and write some music. But, yeah, I mean, hopefully. It’s all fucked up right now, nobody knows what’s going on with anything.”

In September, Maxwell told the “The Ex-Man” podcast that he wasn’t sure there would be a follow-up album to HELLYEAH’s latest effort, “Welcome Home”, which was completed after the passing of drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott.

“Welcome Home” was released in September 2019 via Eleven Seven Music. The disc marked HELLYEAH’s final effort with Abbott (formerly of PANTERA), who passed away nearly three years ago.

STONE SOUR drummer Roy Mayorga stepped in as Vinnie Paul’s replacement for the touring activity in support of “Welcome Home”.

Mayorga’s addition to HELLYEAH was made official in May 2019. At the time, the band said Roy was the perfect guy to take Vinnie Paul’s place. “These men had so much love and mutual respect for each other, this makes our transition so much easier,” HELLYEAH said in a statement.

Like the previous two records, 2016’s “Unden!able” and 2014’s “Blood For Blood”, “Welcome Home” was recorded at The Hideout Recording Studio with Churko.

Vinnie Paul died in June 2018 at the age of 54 in his sleep at his home in Las Vegas. The official cause of death was dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, as well as severe coronary artery disease.

The latest from Sweden’s Horndal continues the tale of their blighted post-industrial town, with the added angle of the refugee experience.
The post Video Premiere: Horndal – “Horndal’s Blodbad” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

In a new interview with the St. Louis, Missouri radio station KSHE 95, Paul Stanley spoke about his continued partnership with fellow KISS co-founder Gene Simmons — this despite their seeming like extremely different types of people. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “He’s my brother. His family is my family. I think of Shannon, his wife, as my sister-in-law. We’ve never been closer than we are now. We’ve come so far and done so many great things for each other, it would be ungrateful if we were anything less. We’re there to cheer each other on and text each other. We’re more than good.”

Last July, Stanley admitted to “Live From Nerdville With Joe Bonamassa” that he “didn’t particularly like” Simmons the first time they met. “But there was pragmatism involved,” he said. “You have to prioritize and figure what’s most important to you to reach your goal. And I knew that Gene and I were much stronger together than me alone. I’m not really sure that he knew that, but that became irrelevant. It was, ‘How do I get where I wanna go? How do I achieve what I want?’ And Gene was essential to it. And here we are 50-plus years later. It’s astounding. We’ve created something that seems like it will outlast us.”

In 2019, Stanley told Dean Delray’s “Let There Be Talk” podcast his relationship with Gene wasn’t affected by the release of Stanley’s 2014 memoir, “Face The Music: A Life Exposed”.

“Gene’s always been very accepting,” Paul said. “And we’ve only gotten closer and closer over time, which is just terrific. I said things in the book that I felt were true, and I would stand by what I said. But it doesn’t negate that in the scheme of things, he’s been a terrific partner, he’s a brother, and he’s family. Certainly there were things that I spoke about in the book that aren’t true anymore, but they were, to me, at some point. And that book was really my overview of my life. And I really didn’t say anything to hurt anyone, and I didn’t wanna throw anybody under the bus. There were a few people who walked under the bus — I didn’t have to throw ’em. I think Gene has always respected that I have my own perspective. And, again, I couldn’t be closer to him than I am now. Totally. I speak to him often.

“It would be crazy and sad to go through what we’ve done together and what we’ve accomplished and have ill will or animosity,” he continued. “If anything, the two of us look at each other and go, ‘Wow!’ In those moments of candor, or when we’re just talking to each other, or texting each other, there are those texts where it’s, like, ‘Wow! Look what we’ve done.’ So, yeah, anybody who thinks otherwise is sadly mistaken. His family is my family. Shannon, I’ve known Shannon probably 35-plus years. [Gene’s kids] Nick and Sophie, I feel like their uncle.

“Look, when [my son] Evan was born, the first person in the room to see him was Gene,” Paul added. “Even when things have been tough, or there’s been tensions in the past — and not in the near past — we always were family. When we had our big earthquake in the ’90s, basically I wasn’t talking to Gene at the time, and as soon as the ground stopped shaking, I called him. I said, ‘Are you okay?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ And then we kept not talking to each other. But the most important thing was making sure he was okay.

“I’m very, very lucky to have him. And I don’t necessarily agree with everything he does. But does anybody?”

In “Face The Music: A Life Exposed”, Stanley insisted that his relationship with Simmons has slowly improved over time. But Paul also wrote: “[Gene] chose to ignore his underlying issues and instead committed himself to creating an external façade and persona that, unfortunately, he felt required to knock down anyone who threatened his singularity in the spotlight.” He also dismissed the notion that Simmons is some kind of financial genius. “Gene’s most successful venture in business was promoting the perception that he was a savvy businessman,” Paul wrote.

A few years back, Paul admitted that he “read a little bit of” Gene Simmons’s book when it first came out but that he had a different recollection of some of their shared history. While reading Gene’s book, Stanley felt, “Gee, I thought I did that. I thought that was me. You thought you were me,” he said.

KISS’s farewell trek was launched in January 2019 and was originally scheduled to conclude on July 17, 2021 in New York City but is now expected to last well into 2022.

KISS last performed this past New Year’s Eve in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The concert broke Guinness world records for highest flame projection in a music concert and for most flame projections launched simultaneously in a music concert.

KISS’s current lineup consists of original members Stanley and Simmons, alongside later band additions, guitarist Tommy Thayer (since 2002) and drummer Eric Singer (on and off since 1991).

In a new interview with The Mercury News, Tony Iommi was asked about the possibility of another BLACK SABBATH tour at some point in the not-too-distant future. He laughed and replied: “I wouldn’t think so. But it’s a strange thing with SABBATH — how many times we thought we were with Ozzy [Osbourne], then we had [Ronnie James] Dio, then back to Ozzy, then Dio again, and then Ian Gillan and Tony Martin and Dio and back to Tony Martin. It’s gone backwards and forwards at different stages. So, you just never know.

“I think it’s highly unlikely that we’d get back onstage again,” he said. “It certainly wouldn’t be touring. We’d only do so many shows, if anything.

“I would like to play with the guys again. But I can’t see that happening.

“The reason we stopped touring in the first place was basically my fault, because I had to be careful of my health,” Iommi explained. “When you book a tour — and it’s always an 18-month tour — it doesn’t sound a lot when you talk about it at first. But when you get out there, and you are touring, it’s bloody hard work. And it wasn’t particularly good for my health, because of the blood cancer. So, I said, ‘Look, you know, this should the last tour, I think.’ But I really do miss it. I really miss playing onstage. I miss seeing the audience.”

Iommi revealed his cancer diagnosis in early 2012, shortly after SABBATH announced a reunion tour and album. He underwent treatment throughout the recording of the disc, titled “13”, and the subsequent tour to promote it.

Iommi said in 2016 interview that “the lowest moment” for him was being diagnosed. He explained: “You automatically wind yourself up saying, ‘That’s it then,’ but that is not always the case. When they tell you, you think, ‘Oh God.’ That was a low time. I have had a few low times in my life like everybody has, but that was one that stuck in the head.”

Osbourne told The Pulse Of Radio in 2014 that Iommi never let his condition slow him down. “My hat goes off to him ’cause he really is Iron Man,” he said. “I mean, that chemotherapy knocks you sideways, you know. I mean, when my wife had cancer a few years back, she was having three chemo things a month and it would knock the life out of — literally every time she’d have a treatment, she’d have a seizure. It’s scary stuff. But he came down, plugged in and carried on. He’s my hero, I swear to God he is.”

The BLACK SABBATH guitarist successfully underwent an operation in January 2017 to remove a noncancerous lump from his throat.

“13” was the first album in 35 years to feature Osbourne, Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler all playing together.

In February 2017, SABBATH finished “The End” tour in Birmingham, closing out the quartet’s groundbreaking 49-year career.

“The End” was SABBATH’s last tour because Iommi can no longer travel for extended amounts of time.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH singer Ivan Moody celebrated his third year of sobriety on March 8.

Late Wednesday night (March 10), Moody took to his Instagram to share a a nine-minute video message in which he once again talked about his plan to turn his home in Las Vegas into a recovery center. “I originally wanted to do it for people with eating disorders,” he said. “It’s something that I faced myself. A lot of you probably don’t know that, but that is why my weight has fluctuated a lot [over the] years. But we go back and forth about ideas on how we wanna do this.

“There are no places in Nevada at all for people with eating disorders, which is really odd to me,” he continued. “It’s the entertainment capital of the world, so you think it’d be a priority, but it is not. However, I’m not taking anything [away from Nevada], because the sober community out here, the recovery community is bigger and better than anywhere else in the world. That is a fact. Look it up. There are more meetings here in a week than there are most places in two months.”

In September 2018, Moody opened up about his struggles with alcohol addiction during an interview with the WEBN radio station. The singer admitted that he was “back and forth for a while; I’d do three months, then relapse.” He added: “Recovery, you have to be commited; it’s an honest program, and I wasn’t being honest with myself at the time. I’m very, very proud of the progress I’ve made.”

Moody went on to credit several of his friends and musical peers with helping him get through some of his darker moments. “Rob Halford [JUDAS PRIEST] is the person that I called a lot of the time when I was in recovery,” he revealed. “I think he’s been sober now for going on 40 years — maybe, I think, a little longer than that; I could be wrong. But Jamey Jasta [HATEBREED] — another one. Jamey’s been sober now for [two decades]; Jonathan Davis [KORN]; so on and so forth. So these were all people that I looked to when I was struggling, and I was very, very lucky and blessed to have them on my team.”

Back in May 2018, Moody told the Green Bay radio station Razor 94.7 that he nearly died due to an alcohol-related seizure and woke up surrounded by EMTs and his daughter holding him while crying. He also admitted that he went to rehab five times before the last time finally stuck.

Moody revealed that he was sober but massively hung over during his onstage meltdown in Europe in 2017, with the band sending him home after that and later welcoming him back on a “probationary” basis after both Phil Labonte from ALL THAT REMAINS and Tommy Vext from BAD WOLVES filled in on a couple of tours.

Kael himself celebrated his third year of sobriety in February.

Moody and Kael are not the first members of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH to publicly discuss their struggle with addiction. Drummer Jeremy Spencer, who left the band in December 2018, got clean and sober nine years ago after a particularly bad episode of drug and alcohol abuse, saying that he didn’t want to let his parents down after achieving the kind of success he dreamed of as a kid.

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Hear Intoxicating Lethargy, the debut album by not-as-cold-as-you’ve-been-led-to-believe doomsters WitchTit!
The post Album Stream: Getting Tipsy on WitchTit’s “Intoxicating Lethargy” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Rob Zombie recently spoke to Consequence Of Sound about what the concert industry might look like post-pandemic. He said: “I think it will be changed for a while. Obviously, I think it’s going to be a while before people feel like, ‘Yeah, I want to be packed in with a hundred thousand people [at a festival].’ That’s going to be a while before people feel comfortable with that. Then it’ll eventually get back to normal. The big ‘but’ here is that if the world keeps doing what it’s doing to cause these pandemics, it’s not going to get back to normal. Because we’ll get over this one, things will get back to normal, and then there’ll be another one. It’ll happen again. I mean, what happened is really a surprise to no one. You can go back and see interviews with Bill Gates and different people, even [President Barack] Obama talking about it. Everybody knew a pandemic was coming in some form. So my fear is that everybody has a short memory. So once people are vaccinated and life returns, they’ll just do the same and make it happen again.”

Even though then-president Donald Trump repeatedly described the coronavirus outbreak in the United States as a problem that nobody anticipated, he was warned by Bill Gates in December 2016 about the threat posed to the U.S. by pandemics. A year earlier, during a TED Talk, Gates said viruses posed the “greatest risk of global catastrophe” relative to other threats.

In early 2017, the Obama administration walked incoming Trump administration officials through a hypothetical scenario in which a pandemic worse than the 1918 Spanish flu shut down cities like Seoul and London, Politico reported.

Rob will release his seventh studio album, “The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy”, on March 12 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2016’s “The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser” was produced by Chris “Zeuss” Harris.

“The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser” was the second consecutive effort to feature Zombie and John 5 alongside bassist Piggy D. and drummer Ginger Fish.

Photo credit: Travis Shinn