Month: August 2021

KK’S PRIEST, the new band featuring former JUDAS PRIEST members K.K. Downing (guitar) and Tim “Ripper” Owens (vocals), along with guitarist A.J. Mills (HOSTILE), bassist Tony Newton (VOODOO SIX) and drummer Sean Elg (DEATHRIDERS, CAGE), will release its debut album, “Sermons Of The Sinner”, on October 1 (postponed from the previously announced August 20) via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records.

The official music video for the fourth single from “Sermons Of The Sinner”, a song called “Raise Your Fists”, is available below.

“This video is emblematic of what you can expect to experience when the band hits the road,” Downing said. “This song totally rejoices in everything rock and metal, and is a clear indication that the band is raring to go, so get ready to ‘raise your fists’ with us when we hit the road,”

The album cover features a mysterious figure robed in a monk’s habit, who Downing slyly states may or may not be him, holding a book of sermons. He says the “sinner” in the title refers to his famous solo in that classic song of the same name and also reflects his sense of alienation from the groundbreaking group that he helped create. “The whole concept is the fact that I continue proudly to be who I am and what I am and do what I do,” declares Downing. “It’s been nearly 10 years. I’m back making music.”

And his disciples are ready to receive his sermons. He’s brought a former bandmate along for the ride, and they have unleashed an album with a modern sound that hearkens back to what fans have always loved about Downing and his music and which still sounds fresh. “All of my life, people always wanted an album that we’ve made in the past,” muses Downing. “‘What’s the new album like? Will it be anything like ‘British Steel’? Will it be anything like ‘Sad Wings’?’ People hoping you’re going to make a record that you’ve already made. So in a way this record just sounds like something that has already been made or should have been be made. It does have a lot of things that are connected to the past. For example, ‘Brothers Of The Road’. If you take all the lyrics off and just listen to the music, maybe you could be listening to ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Comin”.”

After years of quietly enjoying life away from the rigors of the road and intense studio recording, Downing emerged again on stage in August 2019. From there, the conversation led to Downing performing a few songs with Ross The Boss at Bloodstock Open Air. The performance electrified the crowd and reinvigorated Downing. In November of that year, he put on a show in Wolverhampton, U.K. with Owens, Binks, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson and HOSTILE guitarist A.J. Mills. Downing had produced two albums for the latter band. Spanning JUDAS PRIEST’s catalog, this superb and successful show sent shockwaves throughout the metal world: K.K. was back and the fans were clearly hungry for more.

Rather than simply rely on his past successes and go on the road performing classic JUDAS PRIEST songs, the renowned guitarist did what he has always done — make new music. And songs that fans would want to hear and sing along to in concert. Downing assembled Owens, Mills, Newton and Elg to create “Sermons Of The Sinner”, an album that celebrates his classic metal roots and encourages us to cherish those iconic pioneers whom we still have with us. He jokes that KK’S PRIEST is “like a new old band. Or an old new band.”

“The ultimate message is we’ve moved away from this music that we loved for so long and we’re so dedicated to, and now we’re in a situation where lots of people are actually passing away,” explains Downing. “We’ve lost a lot of great people — [Ronnie James] Dio, Lemmy, I could go on — and that’s gonna be accelerated over the coming years. Basically, enjoy everything that’s left of this brand of metal including from me. It’s not going to last forever.”

Downing spent four months writing and recording “Sermons Of The Sinner” and, along with new ideas, he even resurrected a few archived riffs from the ’80s. (Can you pick them out?) After partnering with Explorer1 Music Group, the album was originally intended for release a year ago, but with the COVID-19 pandemic curtailing everyone’s release and touring plans, Downing pulled back and spent two more months tweaking the album to how he wanted it. The extra time paid off.

High-speed album opener “Hellfire Thunderbolt” offers a fictitious take on how metal arrived before the masses were ready for it, so it gestated in the late ’60s before exploding in the ’70s and ’80s. Rousing rockers like “Raise Your Fists” and “Wild And Free” revel in the passion and excess that metal fans embrace. The guitar interplay is intense and inspiring, and the band is firing on all cylinders.

“The Return Of The Sentinel” is a bold choice to close the album. Not only is it a sequel to the classic track from JUDAS PRIEST’s 1984’s platinum-selling “Defenders Of The Faith” album, it’s a nine-minute epic that doesn’t play by the rules. The first half is stirring metal, and the latter half is somber and subdued, which reflects the tale of a being who, once a dispenser of justice and death, now faces his own mortality.

Conversely, KK’S PRIEST is alive and vital. They have plans to tour later this year with some Ripper-era JUDAS PRIEST songs tossed into the mix, and Binks hopes to make appearances at shows.

“Les was able to do the short set at the Steel Mill,” says Downing. “But he had a wrist injury after that and wasn’t able to do the album. Les wants to jump on the stage and a play a couple of songs, although he is not going to be able to play a full set. He will be our special guest.”

Downing is hoping to reach as many headbangers as he can worldwide — from Europe to North and South America. “Sermons Of The Sinner” is a love letter to the music he helped create and evolve and to the devoted followers who have supported it. “I’m talking about the diehard fans that are not going anywhere,” says Downing. “They’re not certainly going to jump on a different genre of music just because a lot of their heroes are unfortunately passing away. And that sentiment is in this album where we said in the title track, ‘time is running out for us, things may never be the same, but the sermons of the sinner center can help us rise again.’ Because you never know when the last gig is going to be the last gig, so to speak. I’m pretty optimistic. I’m working on material for the second album.”

“Sermons Of The Sinner” track listing:

01. Incarnation
02. Hellfire Thunderbolt
03. Sermons Of The Sinner
04. Sacerdote Y Diablo
05. Raise Your Fists
06. Brothers Of The Road
07. Metal Through And Through
08. Wild And Free
09. Hail For The Priest
10. Return Of The Sentinel

Owens joined PRIEST in 1996 and recorded two studio albums with the band — 1997’s “Jugulator” and 2001’s “Demolition” — before PRIEST reunited with Rob Halford in 2003.

Downing left PRIEST in 2011 amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance. He was replaced by Richie Faulkner, nearly three decades his junior.

In 2019, Downing said that he reached out to JUDAS PRIEST about taking part in the band’s upcoming 50th-anniversary tour but that their response was that they were not interested in including him in the celebrations.

In 2018, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST. The first was described as “a graceful exit note, implying a smooth retirement from music,” while the second was “angrier, laying out all of his frustrations with specific parties.”

Downing later said that he believed the second letter was “a key reason” he wasn’t invited to rejoin PRIEST after Glenn Tipton’s decision to retire from touring.

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The surviving members of NIRVANA as well as the estate of Kurt Cobain have been sued by Spencer Elden, the man who claims he was the baby featured on the cover of the band’s “Nevermind” album. Elden alleges the image of the baby reaching for a dollar in a swimming pool violated federal child pornography statutes and argues child sexual exploitation.

In the complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, which also names photographer Kirk Weddle and the various record companies behind the album’s release, Elden claims that his “identity and legal name are forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor which has been distributed and sold worldwide from the time he was a baby to the present day.”

According to the suit, the defendants “knowingly produced, possessed, and advertised commercial child pornography depicting Spencer, and they knowingly received value in exchange for doing so. … Despite this knowledge, defendants failed to take reasonable steps to protect Spencer and prevent his widespread sexual exploitation and image trafficking.”

Elden claims that his parents never signed a release authorizing the use of the photos, which were taken in a Pasadena aquatic center in 1990. He alleges that the band promised to cover his genitals with a sticker, which was never incorporated into the album art.

“To ensure the album cover would trigger a visceral sexual response from the viewer, Weddle activated Spencer’s ‘gag reflex’ before throwing him underwater in poses highlighting and emphasizing Spencer’s exposed genitals,” the complaint states.

The suit further alleges the defendants “used child pornography depicting Spencer as an essential element of a record promotion scheme commonly utilized in the music industry to get attention, wherein album covers posed children in a sexually provocative manner to gain notoriety, drive sales, and garner media attention, and critical reviews.”

Elden is seeking damages of either $150,000 from each of the 17 defendants or unspecified damages to be determined at trial, attorney fees, an injunction to prohibit all parties “from continuing to engage in the unlawful acts and practices described herein,” and a trial by jury.

“The permanent harm he has proximately suffered includes but is not limited to extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations, interference with his normal development and educational progress, lifelong loss of income earning capacity, loss of past and future wages, past and future expenses for medical and psychological treatment, loss of enjoyment of life, and other losses to be described and proven at trial of this matter,” the lawsuit states.

Elden’s parents were reportedly paid only $200 for the photos, and the shoot lasted around 15 seconds.

In a 2016 interview with Time magazine, Elden said: “It’s a trip. Everyone involved in the album has tons and tons of money. I feel like I’m the last little bit of grunge rock. I’m living in my mom’s house and driving a Honda Civic.

“It’s hard not to get upset when you hear how much money was involved,” Elden added. “I go to a baseball game and think about it: ‘Man, everybody at this baseball game has probably seen my little baby penis,’ I feel like I got part of my human rights revoked.”

“Nevermind” has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and was certified diamond by the RIAA for sales in excess of 10 million copies in the U.S. alone.

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From diehard metalheads to mainstream rock fans, everybody should know DANKO JONES by now. Toronto’s finest balls-out (yup) power trio have been a force for rock ‘n’ roll excellence for 25 years now, and their tenth full-length arrives at a time when Danko himself has never been a more necessary presence in the world of heavy music. But despite having spent much of the last 18 months elegantly dismembering dunderheads and racists on social media, the Canadian has always had his eye on the prize, and “Power Trio” is yet another sweaty, life-affirming triumph.

It’s hard to think of a band more painfully unsuited to 18 months of inactivity. “Power Trio” sounds like the work of three musicians with an excruciating itch to scratch, and the sheer energy that erupts from every performance reaffirms that DANKO JONES are a live band, first and foremost. Nonetheless, this is the best sounding record they have ever made: perhaps the heaviest, too. Danko’s guitar tone throughout is simply godly. Just like the band’s sound, it’s the perfect amalgam of hardcore grit, classic rock clangor and trashy fuzz, and effectively ensures that the only way to listen to this record is at sanity-threatening volume. There are countless bands out there peddling a classic rock formula of one kind or another, but there is nothing self-consciously retro about what DANKO JONES have increasingly refined over the years. Instead, this is pure, unadulterated Big Rock, and as timeless as the tales of love, lust and getting loose that are the trio’s speciality.

Fans will have heard the singles, of course. “I Want Out” (not a HELLOWEEN cover, although that’s a thought for the future!) and “Saturday” are instant anthems for the age of lockdowns, with giant choruses, razor-sharp riffs and lashings of lascivious charm. “Start The Show” is even better: a thunderous call to arms with indecent levels of urgency and swagger, it sweetly encapsulates the DANKO JONES philosophy of unrelenting rock ‘n’ roll evangelism. “Let’s Rock Together” does much the same, but with a colossal twinkle in its eye and a riff big enough to give HELMET sleepless nights.

As ever, there are moments when Danko’s libido takes center stage: the fuzz-rock fist-flurry of “Good Lookin'” and the superbly titled “Blue Jean Denim Jumpsuit” are irresistible, while “Flaunt It” takes the band back to the thuggish, turbo-punk and snarling simplicity of the “We Sweat Blood” era.

Ultimately, this is a master class in songwriting and bullshit-free rock ‘n’ roll thunder. “Everybody knows you’re killing it, everybody knows you’re on fire!” yells Danko amid the sinewy radio-rock perfection of “Get To You”. Deep down, he probably knows he’s singing about his own band.



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Original KISS drummer Peter Criss has taken to social media on Tuesday to honor THE ROLLING STONES’ Charlie Watts, who died earlier today at the age of 80.

Criss wrote: “As a musician it was always a comfort to know the greatest band in the world was still around.

“It is devastating to hear of Charlie Watts’ passing. As a drummer he inspired me deeply. It is a great loss in musical history and there will never be another Charlie Watts. His unique style and technique was the heart beat of THE ROLLING STONES. He is and always will be an inspiration for us drummers. He was one of my favorite drummers and I have so much love and respect for him. He will be greatly missed.

“My love and prayers go out to Mick, Keith, Ronnie, and all his family and fans all around the world.

“May he rest in peace with the Lord in heaven.

“God Bless, Peter Criss”.

Bernard Doherty, Watts’s publicist, said that he “passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family.”

Charlie’s death came just weeks after THE ROLLING STONES announced that Watts would be missing several U.S. tour dates while he was recovering from an unspecified medical procedure.

Although Watts wasn’t a founding member of THE STONES, he had been with the band since January 1963.

He battled throat cancer in 2004 but got the all clear after undergoing two operations.

Prior to Charlie’s death, the “No Filter” tour, which was originally supposed to happen last year, was scheduled to hit 15 cities from September through November.

God bless, Charlie. pic.twitter.com/sWpU2JSeqG
— Peter Criss (@PeterCriss) August 24, 2021

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MEGADETH played its third show with bassist James LoMenzo in nearly 12 years this past Sunday night (August 22) in The Woodlands, Texas. “The Metal Tour Of The Year” concert at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion saw MEGADETH share the stage with co-headliners LAMB OF GOD, along with TRIVIUM and HATEBREED.

MEGADETH’s setlist was as follows:

01. Hangar 18
02. Wake Up Dead
03. In My Darkest Hour
04. Sweating Bullets
05. Trust
06. Conquer Or Die!
07. Dystopia
08. Symphony Of Destruction
09. Peace Sells
10. Holy Wars… The Punishment Due

Front-row fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below (courtesy of YouTube user Jay Jameson).

Produced by Live Nation, the rescheduled trek will hit a further 25 cities before wrapping in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada on Saturday, October 2.

LoMenzo joined MEGADETH in 2006 and appeared on two of the group’s studio albums, 2007’s “United Abominations” and 2009’s “Endgame”. He was fired from the band in 2010 and replaced with returning original MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson.

In addition to MEGADETH, LoMenzo has played with Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde and WHITE LION. For the past eight years, LoMenzo has been performing with iconic rocker John Fogerty.

Mustaine has yet to reveal who played bass on the band’s new album after Ellefson’s tracks were removed from the LP following his dismissal from the group in late May.

Ellefson laid down his bass tracks on MEGADETH’s sixteenth LP in May 2020 at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee.

In July, Mustaine announced during an episode of his Gimme Radio program “The Dave Mustaine Show” that Ellefson’s bass tracks would not be used on the new MEGADETH LP.

In early May, on the same day that sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving Ellefson were posted on Twitter, he released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he “groomed” an underage fan.

On May 24, Mustaine — who formed MEGADETH with Ellefson in 1983 — announced the bassist’s departure from the band.

Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band’s inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest departure.

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BLACK SABBATH’s Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward have taken to social media on Tuesday to honor THE ROLLING STONES’ Charlie Watts, who died earlier today at the age of 80.

Iommi wrote: “So sorry to hear the very sad news of Charlie Watts passing. He was such a nice guy and a major influence in the music business – he’ll be sadly missed. My deepest condolences to his family and to Mick, Ronnie, Keith and all his friends and fans. R.I.P.”

Ward said: “Our condolences to Charlie’s family, friends, fellow musicians, and fans. The very bulwark in the best rock and roll band in the world has passed away leaving us all so much to listen to and relisten to. His hats and snare pinned in so much of the sound and let it sound loose but always so tight at the same time.

“Charlie was brilliant, sustaining and always on, a solid fixture in a band that often seemed it was falling off the edge of the world. We’ve all been with him a long time now, he was always solid, we can learn much. A great rock and roll drummer and beloved jazz drummer making outstanding jazz recordings. He will always be vital to fellow musicians, especially for fellow drummers.

“My family and I are very sad today, in the notice of his passing. Our hearts will be forever grateful for all the great things he gave us, and now, has left us, thank you Charlie, RIP. The Bill Ward Family”.

Butler stated: “This news did shock me today. I’ve been a fan since I saw THE STONES at the Birmingham Town Hall in 1964. RIP Charlie, thanks for the great music and memories.”

Bernard Doherty, Watts’s publicist, said that he “passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family.”

Charlie’s death came just weeks after THE ROLLING STONES announced that Watts would be missing several U.S. tour dates while he was recovering from an unspecified medical procedure.

Although Watts wasn’t a founding member of THE STONES, he had been with the band since January 1963.

He battled throat cancer in 2004 but got the all clear after undergoing two operations.

Prior to Charlie’s death, the “No Filter” tour, which was originally supposed to happen last year, was scheduled to hit 15 cities from September through November.

#CharlieWatts ?? pic.twitter.com/OtLzoRiToE
— Bill Ward (@billwarddrums) August 24, 2021

This news did shock me today. I’ve been a fan since I saw the Stones at the Birmingham Town Hall in 1964. RIP Charlie, thanks for the great music and memories. https://t.co/45J87apnrv
— Geezer Butler (@geezerbutler) August 24, 2021

So sorry to hear the very sad news of Charlie Watts passing. He was such a nice guy and a major influence in the music business – he’ll be sadly missed. My deepest condolences to his family and to Mick, Ronnie, Keith and all his friends and fans. R.I.P.
Tony pic.twitter.com/62veFSUjoz

— Tony Iommi (@tonyiommi) August 24, 2021

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S-L-A-G! SLAG! SLAG! SLAG!
The post Blast Worship: Slag appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

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English bog dwellers Slimelord will finally drop the follow-up to their deadly demo. Hear their brand-new EP Moss Contamination before it comes out on September 3rd.
The post EP Premiere: Slimelord – Moss Contamination appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

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“AC/DC: Breaking The Band” will premiere on Sunday, August 29 at 9 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT on Reelz.

Brothers Malcolm and Angus Young are the heart and co-founders of Australian rock band AC/DC. The two were the youngest of eight siblings and grew up in a working-class family where rock and roll was the only life they ever knew. Both brothers had a relentless and take-no-prisoners attitude towards success and they shared the dream to get to the top and become guitar toting multi-millionaires. Their desire to conquer the world with their singular brand of heavy rock came before everything including family relationships and over 35 years many of those around them would be chewed up and spat out as AC/DC rose to world domination.

Selling more than 200 million records and playing more than 2,500 concerts worldwide, AC/DC blew away everything in front of them. But even as its members achieved global success beyond their wildest dreams, AC/DC would be haunted by tragedy after tragedy.

Former bassist Mark Evans shares his experiences from the legendary in-studio guitar solo by Angus that literally lit the studio on fire to his fallout with Angus that led to Evans leaving the band.

“Breaking The Band” is produced by Potato, part of ITV Studios.

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