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EXODUS singer Steve “Zetro” Souza says that drummer Tom Hunting is “doing really good,” a month after he started treatment for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the stomach.

A GoFundMe campaign to help Hunting with medical expenses has already raised nearly more than $89,000 — including $5,000 from Tom’s former EXODUS bandmate, current METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett, and $1,500 from FOZZY singer and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho.

Souza offered an update on Hunting’s health during the latest episode of his Zetro’s Toxic Vault YouTube series. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I was actually with the whole band last Tuesday. We had a photo shoot. And I’ve gotta say Tom looks great. And from all of us, and him as well, we wanna thank all of you guys for all of your kind words, all of your financial support. And I want you guys to know that he’s one of the strongest individuals I’ve ever met in my life. That’s why he got so much love. He’s just such a great, amazing player, as that goes. He’s an awesome drummer — an innovator at what he does — and just an overall great dude, and everybody loves him.”

He continued: “[Tom’s] cut his hair off, and I thought he looks great, dude. I was walking up to him, going, like, ‘Hi, I’m Tom Hunting. I’ll be selling your house.’ He looks so professional. I told him, ‘Fuck, dude. I wouldn’t grow it back, if I was you.’

“Anyway, he’s great, and he looks great, and he’s beating this thing. Like he said in the press, he’s gonna beat it like a snare drum that owes him money, and he’s doing that right now. When you guys hear what he’s done on the new record and see him live, it’s gonna be really exciting for everyone. It makes it even that much more special as that comes out.”

Souza added: “I don’t wanna tell too much, because he’s very reserved on these types of things and he doesn’t really want me to talk about it. I just wanna let you guys know that he’s doing really good, and he looks really good, and his attitude and everybody around him is very positive. And that’s all I can say. He’s gonna lick this thing, no problem. And we’ll see you guys back with him right out on the road.”

The 56-year-old Hunting revealed the diagnosis in a statement released on April 13. He said at the time: “Today I will be starting treatment for a squamous cell carcinoma. It’s a gastric tumor that was diagnosed in my upper stomach in February.

“I’m making this public to raise awareness for people to pay attention to symptoms of stomach and esophageal issues. If they persist, please go get it checked out.

“I’m not gonna be sheepish talking about it. I feel that if I can help someone with what I’ve learned, or someone out there has information to share with me, it’s a win-win! When you can name the enemy, it’s empowering, and you’re 1 step closer to killing it!

“Ok, you’ve heard the bad news. The good news is he feels great physically! I’m gonna beat this like a fucking snare drum that owes me money!!! I’ve had great doctors and a great support system that is an army in itself. I’m ready for the fight!”

After Hunting went public with his diagnosis, EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt said that the band will “delay” the release of its recently completed new album, “Persona Non Grata”, “so that when Tom has defeated this, he will be back to full strength to hit the road and pummel his drums like only he can! When he has kicked cancer’s ass like we know he will, we will resume kicking YOUR asses with the sickest record yet!” he said.

The squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach is a very uncommon entity, with worldwide incidence of 0.04% to 0.07% of all gastric cancers.

“Persona Non Grata” will be the follow-up to 2014’s “Blood In Blood Out”, which was the San Francisco Bay Area thrashers’ first release since the departure of the group’s lead singer of nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.

“Persona Non Grata” was recorded at a studio in Lake Almanor, California and was engineered by Steve Lagudi and EXODUS. It was produced by EXODUS and was mixed by Andy Sneap.

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“Heart: Breaking The Band” will premiere on Sunday, May 23 at 8 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on Reelz.

HEART co-founders Steve Fossen and Roger Fisher, along with his brother and band manager Michael Fisher, reveal the remarkable story of the band’s journey to success and how sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson joined the group and changed rock history. Renowned for 1970s hits “Crazy On You” and “Barracuda”, the story of HEART includes an intra-band double love story sibling soap opera that ended in explosive breakups that blew apart the original band’s dream. But as the Fisher brothers and Fossen explain, it wasn’t just twisted love triangles and a series of infidelities that broke the band; there were also creative clashes, burnout and soaring egos that took their toll.

The downfall of the original HEART left Ann and Nancy free to take the band into the cutthroat world of mainstream rock superstardom where they would reinvent themselves with different bandmembers, leading to their 1980s power ballads, including the chart-topping “Alone”.

It’s said time heals all wounds but in the case of a broken HEART, the bitterness of the breakup would last decades. Even as the original band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, they would only perform one song together, and hear from the Fisher brothers how even a simple group photo was an insurmountable feat.

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

IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain will appear at the November 2021 Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp in Hollywood, Florida. Also scheduled to take part in the event are Dave Mustaine (MEGADETH), Steve Morse (DEEP PURPLE, DIXIE DREGS) and Richie Faulkner (JUDAS PRIEST).

Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp is an institution and cultural phenomenon that has been going on in Los Angeles, New York, and other cities since 1996. The brainchild of music producer David Fishof, it boasts a jaw-dropping array of rock star “counselors” that, in the past, have included Roger Daltrey (THE WHO), Alice Cooper, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons (KISS), Nancy Wilson (HEART), Joe Perry (AEROSMITH), Jeff Beck, Slash (GUNS N’ ROSES) and countless other rock legends.

Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp is a non-competitive atmosphere designed for all levels of musicians and music enthusiasts. Participants are placed in bands with like-minded people and skill level to make for an off-the-charts experience.

Some of the campers play well and even gave up careers as musicians to become CEOs and lawyers. Some campers can’t play at all. What they all have in common is passion for rock music. At Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp, they all get to pursue their passion — and meet, and play with the artists who became the soundtrack of their lives.

For more information, and to sign up, click here.

Get ready for some 8-bit black metal dimension hopping courtesy Gonemage.
The post Excavating “Mystical Extraction”: A Gonemage Track by Track appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Now that a sizeable chunk of the metal-loving audience is enthusiastically buying vinyl again, the lost art of the compilation album may yet experience a resurgence. With their legendary “Metal Massacre” series, METAL BLADE contributed as much as anyone to ensuring that such things were fundamentally important to the ’80s underground metal’s evolution. For anyone who lived through that electrifying era, battered copies of various volumes of “Speed Kills” and “Metal Massacre” were almost as important as the classic studio albums released at the same time. Significantly, there is a long list of bands that clearly received their first authentic break via a compilation, with METAL BLADE’s vinyl series kicking open doors for METALLICA, SLAYER, OVERKILL, TROUBLE, THE OBSESSED, METAL CHURCH, HELLHAMMER, VOIVOD, POSSESSED and countless others. In recent years, compilations have been rendered largely redundant by streaming services, playlists and insidious algorithms, but “Metal Massacre XV” raises a proud middle finger to the modern way of doing things. Instead, it’s a timely and perfectly pitched throwback to the good old days, generously stocked with great heavy music from right here, right now. And in contrast with MUSIC FOR NATIONS’ ill-judged recent attempt to revive the “Speed Kills” series, this feels firmly in the spirit of its raw, ragged and grubby forebears.

The best way to start any modern metal compilation is with a MIDNIGHT track, and “Masked and Deadly” fulfils that brief with a murderous glint in its eye. Nuts-to-the-wall, pitch-black rock ‘n’ roll of the highest order, it hammers home the timelessness of our beloved genre across three snotty and uncompromising minutes. In wild and stark contrast, Australian oddballs POISON RUÏN peddle a hazy and twisted strain of blackened post-punk, with surging dungeon synth atmospherics and an in-built sonic spikiness that owes more to RUDIMENTARY PENI and A FLUX OF PINK INDIANS than any metal band. Back on more familiar territory, the widely tipped FUMING MOUTH serve up a superior slab of pummeling, panzer-crush death metal that welds old-school muscularity to a very modern sense of maxed-out crustiness. First released on last year’s excellent “The Strangest of Beasts” album, “The Trees Die Standing” showcases the icy grandeur of MANY SUFFER’s epic but untamed black metal, albeit in a slightly truncated form.

Underground heads will already know the mighty TEMPLE OF VOID. Somewhere between the horrified melodrama of HOODED MENACE and something much more unpleasant, the band’s oddly melancholic “Leave the Light Behind” is a real gem with a woozy and haunting undertow to cherish. At the other end of the atmospheric spectrum, RIPPED TO SHREDS are just plain fucking nasty: “Bone Ritual” is primitive but razor-sharp death metal, smashed out with real venom and buzzsaw guitar tones that threaten to draw real blood. Death metal nerds will recognize Californian brutes RUDE, whose 2017 album “Remnants…” was one of that year’s gnarliest. Here they offer “Omega”, a typically gruesome and slack-jawed slice of all-out war. After that MIDNIGHT DICE’s old-school, melodic heroism comes as a welcome rush of iron-clad positivity, SMOULDER’s ongoing mastery of US power metal and classic doom hits the spot with the expected ferocity, and Indiana miserabilists MOTHER OF GRAVES provide a fitting finale with five minutes of suppurating, deathly doom.

Of course, if you’re not a vinyl fan, this may all seem enormously pointless. Your loss. “Metal Massacre XV” offers 50 minutes of top-notch underground metal with a pleasing natural flow and some slickly macabre artwork. What’s not to like? Stream it anyway, you futuristic bastard.

Download festival host Kylie Olsson caught up with SLIPKNOT percussionist SLIPKNOT percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan ahead of the band’s inclusion in “Download: Reloaded” on June 5 and June 6 on Sky Arts. Clown discussed his year in lockdown, past Download performances, new music and more in this candid interview, which can be seen below.

Speaking about the material SLIPKNOT has written for the follow-up to 2019’s “We Are Not Your Kind” album, Clown said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I’m not gonna talk about how many songs [we’re completed], because, honestly, I can’t. But I can just tell you that I’m really happy, and the guys are really happy. [SLIPKNOT frontman Corey] Taylor is on some level of singing that I’ve never heard him, which makes me really emotional.

“Great music has been written, and because of that, my favorite singer on the planet has sang the songs,” he continued. “And this is the first time we can go into a studio with completed lyrics. When I say ‘completed,’ I mean written, recorded, but he’s still gonna have his time in the studio to project what he wants to for each individual song. So they’re as done as they can be until he comes in.

“So, we’re in L.A. That’s about all I can say,” Clown added. “And we’re making God music, and we’re having a blast. And it’s just great to be around everybody, and everybody is in the best mood I’ve ever seen. It’s a lot of fun being around the band; it’s a lot of fun not being stressed or having anxiety, and just doing what we do, because we’ve done it for 20 years. And people are finally, like, ‘Just do what you wanna do.’ And that’s unusual for us, because it’s usually me going, ‘No. This is what we’re gonna do, whether you like it or not.’ So now, it’s just, like, ‘Do what you want.’ And, man, what a pleasant thing to receive after all these years. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Asked if the new SLIPKNOT songs are “different-sounding” to what the band has done in the past, Clown said: “I think what everyone would understand and agree on is that we, as the players or the artists that we are, we’re always looking to solidify a certain awareness in us. So we’ve always pushed for being indifferent. Not on purpose, but to have the right to fully get this out.

“We have nothing to prove to anyone; we only have to prove it to ourselves,” he explained. “And I’ve always believed that our fans, our culture, loves us because they can trust us. They might not like what we decide, but they’re, like, ‘At least you decided it, and we’re gonna back it, because you thought about it.’

“So, is the music different? The music’s always different. I wanna make different paintings. I don’t wanna create the same painting. Familiarity is good, but recreating the same thing is not, in our opinion.

“So, what I can tell you is this for this album: I believe this album is the final album to exercise the right of what we’re searching for. I think we’re mastering it on this one. I think it’s coming very easy. It’s a trust thing.

“You can imagine, SLIPKNOT started as one thing, as zero, and then the expectation of us is at a million percent,” he continued. “And that’s not an expectation we put on ourselves; that’s the world. So we have to keep a clear mind on what it is we’re trying to do and not get focused away from anybody else.

“I think the songs people really love from SLIPKNOT, we call ’em barn burners. And those are songs like ‘Surfacing’. We affectionately call them barn burners. That’s what maybe the majority would like, but we sort of do that in our sleep. And if we only gave that to you, that SLIPKNOT formula, that recipe, something would be lost.

“So what I can say is I believe that this collection of [songs], whatever it ends up being as an album, I really believe it’s gonna be the final — not an effort, but the final brushstroke of a thought process that we really started… Jim [Root, SLIPKNOT guitarist] and I talked about it a lot. We really started this sort of thinking on ‘Vol. 3’ [2004] and really picked it up — Jim and I were really able to pick up some sort of thought by creating [the unreleased SLIPKNOT album] ‘Look Outside Your Window’; it was another avenue for he and I to work together. And then all of us have something to say. And I believe this is gonna be the last time that we have to feel like we have to get this thing out of us. And that’s exciting. Because who knows what the future is then?

“So, is it different? They’re all different,” Clown added. “But they’re SLIPKNOT. We search our souls, so we believe that you’re gonna love it, because we love it, I guess. So, it’s different. But I’ll tell you: I’ve never heard Corey Taylor like this right now — I just never heard him like this. I feel full circle. I almost feel like we’re giving homage to everything we grew up loving. I can hear so much of what I grew up, but it’s my favorite singer singing. I can’t say, ‘Oh, you sound like this person or that person.’ I feel like I’m a kid sneaking a beer at a KISS concert or something. I’m 14, 18, whatever… Let’s not say sneaking. Let’s say 21, and I go into a KISS concert at 21, and I’m having a beer. And I really feel like that right now. I’m having so much fun with the guys and just creating. We’re so chill and relaxed because we’ve learned so much.”

SLIPKNOT’s latest album, “We Are Not Your Kind”, came out in August 2019. The disc sold 118,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Furthermore, the album made an impact worldwide with No. 1 debuts in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and Finland, as well as Top 5 debuts in Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and New Zealand.

“We Are Not Your Kind”‘s sales in the U.S. were boosted by a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with SLIPKNOT’s summer 2019 tour.

In a new interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio, ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante was asked how he met his current girlfriend, Carla Harvey from BUTCHER BABIES. He responded: “Actually, we met at… Well, she says we met earlier, but I don’t remember it. She says she interviewed me at the [Revolver] Golden Gods Awards, but I don’t remember it, but she does have a picture of it, so I know I was there. And then we played a festival in San Bernardino [California] together. I think it was — it could have been Knotfest. And then afterwards, our manager said, ‘Oh, the BUTCHER BABIES, they covered one of your songs for this, blah, blah, blah,’ and I’m, like, ‘Oh, cool.’ And then, that’s how I ended up meeting her, at that show. And we were both kind of interested in the same type of things — like, goofy, nerdy shit. But at the time, we were both kind of involved in marriages and stuff, and that was it. We would e-mail here and there, ‘Hey, did you check out this book?’ or, ‘Did you see that?’ And then that was it. I didn’t talk to her for a bit. And then one day, I was in L.A. making a record, and I hit her up, and I said, ‘You wanna meet around here, go get a coffee or something?’ And, she turned me down. And then I hit her back up a little bit later, and she’s, like, ‘Okay, I’ve to gotta go to the art store in that area. Do you wanna come with me? And we ended up going to an art store. And that was it.”

Benante and Harvey first went public with their relationship in March 2019 after dating for at least three years.

Back in 2015, Charlie named BUTCHER BABIES’ sophomore album, “Take It Like A Man”, one of his favorite releases of the year.

Before starting a relationship with Charlie, Carla was married to Gregory Coates since 2012.

Benante was previously married to Sandra, with whom he has a 15-year-old daughter, Mia Charley Benante.

Harvey makes a guest appearance on Benante’s covers album, “Silver Linings”, which was released on May 14 via Megaforce Records. The 14-track effort features an all-star cast of “who’s who” in the thrash, metal, and rock worlds, with all cuts culled from Benante’s acclaimed “quarantine jam” video series.

Belgian death-dealers Slithering Decay unleash a verminous flood of buzzsaw riffs on their debut album, Aeons Untold.
The post Album Premiere: Slithering Decay – ‘Aeons Untold’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

KISS has announced the rescheduled dates for the European leg of its “End Of The Road” tour.

The trek will kick off on June 1, 2022 in Dortmund, Germany and conclude on July 21, 2022 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Tickets that were previously purchased for the postponed 2020 and 2021 shows will be valid for the new dates.

KISS 2022 European tour dates:

Jun. 01 – Westfalenhalle – Dortmund, Germany
Jun. 03 – Atlas Arena – Lodz, Poland
Jun. 06 – Sportspalais – Antwerp, Belgium
Jun. 07 – Accor Arena – Paris, France
Jun. 10 – Download Festival – Castle Donington, UK
Jun. 13 – Barclaycard Arena – Hamburg, Germany
Jun. 16 – Copenhell Festival – Copenhagen, Denmark
Jun. 18 – Tele 2 Arena – Stockholm, Sweden
Jun. 20 – Hartwell Arena – Helsinki, Finland
Jun. 22 – Scandinavian – Gothenburg, Sweden
Jun. 24 – Festhalle – Frankfurt, Germany
Jun. 26 – Stadthalle – Vienna, Austria
Jun. 28 – Schleyerhalle – Stuttgart, Germany
Jun. 30 – Festival Du Printemps De Perouges – Saint-Vulbas, France
Jul. 02 – Rockfest – Barcelona, Spain
Jul. 03 – Wizink Arena – Madrid, Spain
Jul. 05 – Festival De Nîmes – Les Arènes De Nîmes – Nîmes, France
Jul. 07 – Hallenstadion – Zurich, Switzerland
Jul. 09 – Zagreb Arena – Zagreb, Croatia
Jul. 11 – Arena Di Verona – Verona, Italy
Jul. 13 – O2 Arena – Prague, Czech Republic
Jul. 14 – Budapest Arena – Budapest, Hungary
Jul. 16 – Romexpo – Bucharest, Romania
Jul. 21 – Ziggo Dome – Amsterdam, Holland

Paul Stanley recently told Rolling Stone magazine that KISS has every intention of resuming its “End Of The Road” tour once the pandemic has subsided. “Totally,” he said. “We were 120 shows into it and having a ball [when the pandemic began]. I mean, most of the time when you lose somebody or the situation changes, you find yourself saying, ‘Gee, if I had only known,’ whereas here, you have a situation where we’ve come to the conclusion that we can’t continue [as a touring band]. It’s not feasible. If we were wearing jeans and T-shirts, we could do this into our eighties or nineties, but we’re carrying around 40 and 50 pounds of gear for a couple of hours. There’s an age factor, which makes it more real for people who may have doubted the idea of the ‘end of the road.’But that in mind, it gives us a night with people where we really get to share what we built together. … So the ‘End Of The Road’, I don’t see it as bittersweet. I see it as sweet. And will there be tears? Sure. But oh, my God, look what we’ve been given. And from what the fans say, look what we gave them. It’s unlike other bands.”

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.

Last December, bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons told the 95.5 KLOS radio station that KISS has “a hundred and fifty” shows left in its “End Of The Road” tour, including a stop at “the coldest place on earth.”

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).

Formed in 1973 by Stanley, Simmons, Peter Criss (drums) and Ace Frehley (guitar), KISS staged its first “farewell” tour in 2000, the last to feature the group’s original lineup.

In its 48-year career, KISS has accumulated 23 gold and platinum albums — more than any other U.S. band.