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In a new interview with Finland’s Kaaos TV, drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz of veteran Floridian death metallers CANNIBAL CORPSE was asked if he will get the COVID-19 vaccine to help stop the novel coronavirus from spreading. He responded (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I don’t know. I’m not one for that kind of stuff, so I don’t know. I think we may have no choice, maybe, being who we are, kind of a thing. Before all this, obviously, going to certain countries, [they would tell us], ‘Hey, you need that vaccine, you need that shot,’ because of the diseases that may be happening — like in South America, or something like that — or you’re not going to that country. So you had no choice. So that may be the reason for us to have to get the vaccine, is, ‘Hey, you wanna come to Europe? Well, you have no choice.’ So it kind of stinks.

“In a personal sense, I don’t know if I would [get the vaccine], per se,” he continued. “It’s a good question. I’m not sure. The flu shot has been readily available, obviously, for years, and so many people always just got a flu shot, and I know a lot of them as well. But it wasn’t anything that I felt that I neeed to get. So, yeah, I’m just weird about being forced to take something. It’s a touchy subject, of course, so I don’t know if I will get one or not, unless, like I said, I have to.”

A new poll from the Pew Research Center showed that more than two-thirds of U.S. adults plan on getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

The poll, released on Friday, found that 69 percent of adults say they are going to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

The Pew poll showed that 19% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 32% say they will definitely get the vaccine and 17% say they will probably get it.

The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has estimated that about 70-85% of Americans would need to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity.

America’s two main vaccines have shown 95% efficacy against the coronavirus.

As of late January, the CDC discovered that only 11 per 1 million people experienced severe reactions from the Pfizer vaccine, and only 2.5 per 1 million people who received the Moderna dose.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which became available in the United States earlier this month after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave it emergency use authorization, was tested with new variants of COVID-19, and has shown to be effective against them; Pfizer and Moderna were tested prior to the emergence of these variants.

METALLICA’s Lars Ulrich has poked fun at his receding hairline while sharing a new photo on Instagram.

Late Saturday night, the drummer posted what appears to be a selfie of him scuba diving, and he included the following caption: “Mega Danish forehead still shines bright at 50 feet under water…”

Back in 2013, Ulrich said that he didn’t mind people filming his diminishing hair. While discussing METALLICA’s warts-and-all documentary film “Some Kind Of Monster”, which was released in 2004, Lars said: “There was always this open door kind of thing. So, if the door’s open, its wide open so come in and be part of it, warts and all. Film away and we have nothing to hide, the receding hairlines and everything else, it’s all part and parcel of the package, It’s the way we do things around here and we’re proud of that. It’s not like, this is what we do when we are METALLICA, and this is what we do when we’re not METALLICA. There’s not multiple personalities, or multiple worlds or whatever.”

Last week, METALLICA celebrated the 35th anniversary of its classic third album, “Master Of Puppets”, by performing the song “Battery” on an episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”.

In January, Ulrich told Classic Rock that METALLICA was making “glacial” progress on the follow-up to 2016’s “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct” album. Two months earlier, Ulrich said in an interview with Rolling Stone that METALLICA was nearly a month into “some pretty serious writing” sessions for its next studio album. That same month, Lars told Kara Swisher at the CNBC Evolve Summit that he and his METALLICA bandmates have been working on new music for “the last six [to] eight weeks virtually.” But he admitted that they have encountered a myriad of technical issues which have slowed their progress.

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QUIET RIOT played a socially distanced concert last night (Saturday, March 6) at The Landis theater in Vineland, New Jersey. Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below.

QUIET RIOT’s current lineup includes drummer Johnny Kelly (DANZIG, TYPE O NEGATIVE), who replaced Frankie Banali last year.

Banali, who joined QUIET RIOT in 1982 and played on its breakthrough album, 1983’s “Metal Health”, died in August after a 16-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

The surviving members of QUIET RIOT said it was “Frankie Banali’s wish that the band continue and we keep the music and the legacy alive.”

Asked in a recent interview with the “Music Mania” podcast how Johnny came to be involved with QUIET RIOT, guitarist Alex Grossi said: “When Frankie got sick, one of the first phone calls he made to me was regarding getting a substitute drummer. And Johnny and I had worked together, and still work together, in that band HOOKERS & BLOW, that cover band we do for fun. And he just made perfect sense on so many levels, because he’s not totally intertwined in the L.A. music scene and doesn’t really get involved with the gossip and this and that. Because keep in mind, Frankie wasn’t public about his cancer until several months after his diagnosis.”

He continued: “Johnny, he’s family to me, and Frankie and him were friends. And he can definitely fill the role onstage and off; he’s a total pro and he’s a friend. It worked out great, because the first show that Frankie was gonna miss was in Dallas, Texas, which is when Johnny Kelly lives. So we were able to fly in, do one song for soundcheck, and then trial by fire, do the whole show. He had never played with us before. And Chuck [Wright, bass] and our singer had never even met him. So it was definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-type moment, but Johnny rose to the occasion, and we’re thankful he’s onboard to help us out.”

Speaking about the discussions that Frankie and the other members of QUIET RIOT had about continuing without him, Alex said: “There really wasn’t any one specific conversation. It was just, ‘Keep it going. Business as usual.’ We’re not gonna miss any dates. We’re not gonna make a thing of it. We’re gonna keep the band rolling.

“Frankie put so much of his life into building, helping to build, keeping the band going through good times, through bad — ’80s, ’90s, 2000s — if you think about it, and that’s his baby; that’s his legacy. And when the reality is that you’re not gonna be around anymore, you still want your baby to grow and your legacy to grow, and that basically was always this unwritten thing. And I’m really glad.

“I always tell people I wish I could have found a way to fix his ailments, if you will, but, obviously, no one can do that,” Grossi added. “But I take a lot of pride in knowing that we pulled it off last year and we’re moving forward the way he wanted to and delivering a great show to people. So that I find comfort in. So that’s been a positive.”

At some of QUIET RIOT’s 2019 and 2020 shows, Banali was replaced by Kelly or Mike Dupke (W.A.S.P.), depending on each musician’s availability.

QUIET RIOT’s shows in 2019 with Kelly and Dupke marked the first time ever that the band performed without any of the members from its classic lineup: Banali, singer Kevin DuBrow, guitarist Carlos Cavazo and bassist Rudy Sarzo.

QUIET RIOT initially featured the late guitar legend Randy Rhoads and went through some early lineup shifts before securing the musicians that recorded “Metal Health”.

Wright has been a part of QUIET RIOT, on and off, since 1982, having initially been involved in the “Metal Health” recordings (he played bass on the tracks “Metal Health” and “Don’t Wanna Let You Go”). Grossi was in the last version of the band, from 2004 through 2007, before Kevin passed away, and was asked by Banali to return in 2010.

QUIET RIOT went through two vocalists — Mark Huff and Scott Vokoun — before settling on Jizzy Pearl in 2013. Pearl announced his exit from QUIET RIOT in October 2016 and was briefly replaced by Seann Nichols, who played only five shows with the group before the March 2017 arrival of “American Idol” finalist James Durbin. Pearl returned to QUIET RIOT in September 2019.

Former WHITE LION singer Mike Tramp has failed in his bid to represent Denmark in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

“Everything Is Alright” battled seven other songs in Denmark’s national final “Dansk Melodi Grand Prix” on Saturday, March 6, with the winner going forward to compete in the Eurovision finals, due to be held in Rotterdam this May.

Three songs from the eight competing acts advanced to the “Dansk Melodi Grand Prix” super-final, determined solely by the public viewers through an app or SMS. Tramp came in fifth place, with FYR & FLAMME winning the overall competition with its song “Øve Os På Hinanden”.

Due to the pandemic, this year’s “Dansk Melodi Grand Prix” was performed without a live audience as it was in 2020, although an orchestra was present. It was the first time since 1999 that “Dansk Melodi Grand Prix” was held in a TV studio.

“In 2021, I can be 100% true to myself and not have to put on any mask – I am who I am,” Mike previously said. “All eight songs are there to win, but the moment you deliver and sing a song without compromising on yourself, only in that moment can you leave the stage as a winner — no matter what the jury thinks.

“As far back as I remember, my focus have always been to be the best me, and not a bad copy of someone else,” he added. “With each song I write, each album I record and the many shows I play. I come closer and closer to that goal, and today I feel I can honestly say, I have arrived. ‘Everything Is Alright’ confirms that in every way.”

Tramp shot to worldwide fame in the 1980s as the singer of WHITE LION, one of the only bands to tackle important issues in songs like “When The Children Cry” and “Little Fighter” (about the Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior).

The “Everything Is Alright” single has been released via Target. It heralds the issue of a new best-of compilation album of the same name, which will follow on May 21.

In 1978, Tramp’s then-group MABEL placed 16th in a field of 20 at the Eurovision Song Contest final in Paris.

In a new interview with Rocking With Jam Man, TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy was asked if he and his bandmates have been working on any new music during the coronavirus pandemic. He responded (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “No, we haven’t, but Eric [Peterson, guitar] is writing some music [on his own]. I haven’t heard anything yet. It all starts with Eric, so I just kind of wait. He’s gotta be in the right mood. And probably, being stuck at home with the pandemic, I would think he would be jamming and writing some stuff. So I think we’ll probably at least have a couple of new songs. ‘Cause it makes sense — if we write a couple of new songs, maybe we can do a repackage of the [latest TESTAMENT album, ‘Titans Of Creation’]. We’re talking about possibly writing a song called ‘Titans Of Creation’, ’cause there is no title track. So, we could have a song called ‘Titans Of Creation’ and maybe re-push it out there with the record again. [That would be] more of a marketing thing. I think that’s kind of what the talk is [that] might happen.”

Billy went on to say that he “probably” woudn’t feel comfortable enough to play shows in Texas and Mississippi, the two states which have lifted their mask mandates and increased capacity of all businesses and facilities to 100%. “I’d feel a little safer once I got a vaccine, I think, and maybe a little more people get vaccines,” he said. “But I don’t need to jump in there, and I don’t know about full capacities yet. I just think until it’s really under control with more vaccines, it’s a little bit safer. We’re not safe from everything, but I would wait till the vaccine’s out [to most people]. I think probably most of the bandmembers feel the same way.”

Billy, who was the first metal musician to go public with his COVID-19 diagnosis back in March 2020, was also asked if his battle with the novel coronavirus had any long-term effects on his body or singing. He said: “I haven’t toured, so I don’t know about singing, but I definitely did feel less breath and wind from it. There’s still some after-effects — still dry skin and a little bit of cough stil. But I’m all better. That’s about it.”

“Titans Of Creation” came out in April 2020 via Nuclear Blast. The disc was produced by Peterson and Billy, while Juan Urteaga of Trident Studios handled co-producing, recording and engineering. Andy Sneap was responsible for the mixing and mastering of the album. Eliran Kantor stepped up once again to create new artwork for the cover of this release.

Early last year, TESTAMENT completed “The Bay Strikes Back 2020” European tour with EXODUS and DEATH ANGEL.

Renowned thrash metal titans SLAYER have teamed up with Pull The Plug Patches to bring you a series of exclusive woven patches, backpatches, and enamel pins arriving this spring.

Starting with a backpatch for their legendary album “Reign In Blood” which will be available from March 15, standard-size patches and enamel pins for “Seasons In The Abyss” will follow in early April. New patch designs featuring SLAYER’s infamous album art will be introduced throughout the coming year.

Founded in 2018 in Newcastle, Australia, Pull The Plug Patches has taken battle vest culture by storm. By introducing unique shapes and colorways into the global patch community, Pull The Plug Patches have given battle vests in every nook and cranny of the planet a shot of adrenaline. With sales extending to all of the word’s inhabited continents, a worldwide community of metalheads have been called to arms!

Dedicated to bringing the highest-quality and most unique woven patches to market, over 300 artists have joined the Pull The Plug Patches roster to date, including ARCH ENEMY, ATHEIST, BLOOD INCANTATION, BELPHEGOR, CARCASS, CRADLE OF FILTH, CRYPTOPSY, DEMILICH, DISMEMBER, ENSLAVED, ENTOMBED A.D., EXODUS, GORGUTS, GRAVE, GRUESOME, HAIL OF BULLETS, HATE ETERNAL, INCANTATION, KATATONIA, MASSACRE, MEGADETH, MESHUGGAH, NAPALM DEATH, NECROPHAGIA, NEVERMORE, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, SANCTUARY, SLAYER, SPIRITUAL BEGGARS, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, UNDERGANG, UNLEASHED and many, many more.

Pull The Plug Patches is featured prominently in Banger TV’s new series “The Fabric Of Metal”, which takes viewers on a cultural tour of the mainstays of metal style — from battle vests to bullet belts.

For more information, visit the Pull The Plug Patches web site at www.pulltheplugpatches.com.

Legendary rock photographer Ross Halfin has teamed up with Rufus Publications for the publication of “Randy Rhoads By Ross Halfin”, a celebration of one of the most influential hard rock/heavy metal guitarists of all time. This extensive photo book features many classic and unseen shots of the former OZZY OSBOURNE and QUIET RIOT guitarist chosen by Ross from his personal archive.

Halfin announced the completion of “Randy Rhoads By Ross Halfin” in a tweet earlier today. He wrote: “Just finished this today . My new book on Randy Rhoads which will be coming soon via Rufus Books . I’ve gone through my archive to uncover loads of never before seen photos and I hope some very nice surprises for you . #rosshalfin #randyrhoads”

Rhoads and two others were killed on March 19, 1982 when the small plane they were flying in at Flying Baron Estates in Leesburg, Florida struck Osbourne’s tour bus, then crashed into a mansion. Rhoads was 25 years old.

In his “Biography: The Nine Lives Of Ozzy Osbourne” special, Ozzy stated about first meeting Rhoads after his departure from BLACK SABBATH: “I knew instinctively that he was something extra special. He was like a gift from God — we worked so well together. Randy and I were like a team.

“One thing that he gave to me was hope, he gave me a reason for carrying on,” Ozzy added. “He had patience with me, which was great. He was great to work with. He pulled the best out of me. We had a lot of fun.”

Rhoads’s death had a tremendous impact on Osbourne’s life. “I lost a dear friend in my life — I miss him terribly,” Ozzy said. “I just bathed my wounds with alcohol and drugs.”

“The day that Randy Rhoads died was the day a part of me died,” he added.

Just finished this today . My new book on Randy Rhoads which will be coming soon via Rufus Books . I’ve gone through my archive to uncover loads of never before seen photos and I hope some very nice surprises for you . #rosshalfin #randyrhoads pic.twitter.com/NeKUr7aeBv
— Ross Halfin (@RossHalfin) March 7, 2021

A rehearsal recording of BLACK SABBATH playing a previously unreleased song apparently called “Slapback” in 1979 during the pre-production sessions for the band’s “Heaven And Hell” album can be streamed below. The track, which features Ronnie James Dio on vocals, Tony Iommi on guitar and Bill Ward on drums, was uploaded to YouTube by Gary Rees, the stepson and executor of the estate of SABBATH’s longtime keyboardist Geoff Nicholls.

The “Slapback” upload comes a month and a half after Rees shared a previously unreleased rehearsal recording of BLACK SABBATH playing the “Heaven And Hell” title track during the same sessions. That recording featured Nicholls on bass due to Geezer Butler’s absence during the initial writing stage for the LP.

Rees stated about “Slapback”: “This latest upload from the Geoff Nicholls estate I believe is called ‘Slapback’ from the scrawling on the cassette and the chorus. This is from the same cassette as the ‘Heaven & Hell’ upload on this channel. It doesn’t sound like a typical SABBATH song if it is them but it does sound like Ronnie James Dio.”

Dio joined SABBATH for the first time in 1979 and quickly found kindred spirits in Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and Ward. When “Heaven And Hell” was released in April 1980, the album was met with effusive reviews for the band’s return to form on metal masterpieces like “Neon Knights” and the title track. The album reached No. 9 in the U.K. and No. 28 in the U.S., where it was also certified platinum.

Released on March 5, “Heaven And Hell: Deluxe Edition” added several bonus tracks that have never been made available in North America, including versions of “Children Of The Sea” and “Die Young” recorded live in 1980 in Hartford, Connecticut. The set concludes with live rarities like “E5150” and “Neon Knights” that originally appeared in 2007 on the Rhino Handmade’s limited edition collection “Black Sabbath: Live At Hammersmith Odeon”.

In a recent interview with Songfacts, Iommi was asked how the songwriting compared to when Dio was the singer in SABBATH as opposed to Ozzy Osbourne. He responded: “It was different. With Ozz, we tend to jam usually, and then Ozzy would sometimes be in the room, sometimes he wouldn’t. And sometimes he’d hear something and go, ‘Oh yeah,’ and start singing something to it. It depends on what periods. We’d play and come up with a format for a song, and then he’d listen to it and start coming up with a melody. With Dio, he was a little bit more involved because he played an instrument [bass] and was more musical. And that’s not knocking Ozzy, because Ozzy was great at what he did, but Dio was a little more involved. I could sit down quietly and play something to Ronnie, and he’d say, ‘Yeah, I like that.’ He’d start singing, and then go, ‘Can I go through a change now? What about that note there? Oh yeah, that’s good.’ We’d work together and bounce back with each other.”

Nicholls died in January 2017 after a long battle with lung cancer.

Geoff, who played keyboards on all of SABBATH’s albums between 1980 and 1995 and toured with them, was reportedly in remission from cancer at the time of his death but succumbed to the side effects of chemotherapy.

Nicholls’s first appearance on a SABBATH album was on “Heaven And Hell”. Although his main role with SABBATH was on the keyboard, Nicholls also played some rhythm guitar at concerts. In addition to not always being credited as a full member of the band, Nicholls rarely appeared on stage during SABBATH shows and would instead play on the side of the stage or backstage.

Nicholls’s involvement with the band ended when Adam Wakeman (a member of Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band) was chosen to play keyboards during SABBATH’s 2004 and 2005 tours as part of Ozzfest.

In a recent interview the Arizona radio station 98 KUPD, SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor revealed that he is planning to embark on a “social-distanced” tour with his solo band “in the next couple of months.” He stated (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “[It will be a] short tour — probably about three weeks. Some of the places we’ll be doing two nights in one city. It’ll be completely social-distanced, which means there’ll be pods with space around it, and the only people allowed in the pod are the people who came with that group. [There will be] temp checks at the door, and you have to have proof of a negative test within 48 hours [of the show], or you won’t be let in at all.

“So, I’m looking at ways to kind of get the cobs going — not only for myself but for people I care about,” he continued. “My crew needs work; my wife [Alicia Taylor, a professional dancer and a member of the all-girl dance group CHERRY BOMBS], her dancers, they wanna get back out there. So this is the test to see if we can start to kind of inch back towards reality with these in place — at least until the vaccine has had a chance to kind of do its thing.”

According to Taylor, the tour will kick off in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada. “The bulk of [the dates are] in the Midwest and then kind of working our way back to Vegas,” he said. “It’ll be April-May. And we’re actually hammering the details out right now.”

Corey also stressed the importance of finding ways to return to live performances while also prioritizing safety for everyone involved. “The only way this happens is if we learn to do it,” he said. “We have to get on with it. President Biden was talking about the fact that it’s a national emergency that there’s been no school — real school — and a real plan in place, because there was really nobody running the boat for God knows how long, and that’s been a national emergency. And a lot of people feel like that about what they do for a living. I’m not gonna put what I do as important as education. However, what I do is responsible for a lot of people’s livelihoods. And the faster I can find a way to get us all back doing that in a way that doesn’t endanger people, the better. Instead of just kind of using it as a crutch and waiting for it to go away… Guess what? This may never go away. We need to learn to adapt — we need to adapt and move on and find ways to do this. Like I said, once the vaccine’s had a chance to really kind of do its thing, we will really start to have those tentative steps back towards normalcy as best we can.”

Taylor also expressed his optimism that large gatherings as we knew them will most likely return in the not-too-distant future.

“This isn’t forever,” he said. “I know a lot of doomsayers out there who are, like, ‘Oh, this is it.’ I’m, like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ You can’t even keep people from storming into the Super Bowl. You’re telling me that people are gonna stay behind closed doors forever? We can’t, as a species, do that. We cannot do that; we are not built for that. And people are going to encourage each other to find ways to get together and have fun. It’s just a matter of time. And the more positive we can be about it, the better it’s gonna be, man. Especially now that we have people who are actually looking around, going, ‘Okay, we’re not ignoring this. We’re not denying this. This isn’t a political thing. This is a safety thing. Let’s just get rid of that. And now, this is how we’re gonna reopen things. But we’re gonna get this going.’ And that should be encouraging people.”

Taylor’s debut solo album, “CMFT”, was released in October. Corey recorded the effort with his band consisting of Jason Christopher on bass, Dustin Schoenhofer on drums, and Zach Throne and Christian Martucci (STONE SOUR) on guitar. The LP was completed at Kevin Churko’s The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas with producer Jay Ruston, who has previously worked with ANTHRAX, STEEL PANTHER and STONE SOUR, among others.

Taylor recently made history as he reached No. 1 at Active Rock Radio with his powerful single “Black Eyes Blue”. The achievement put Taylor in a class all his own, making him the first artist in the history of the format to reach No. 1 with three separate projects, following chart-topping efforts from SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR.

“CMFT” made impressive debuts on charts around the world in October, entering at No. 1 on Billboard’s Current Hard Rock Albums chart, while claiming No. 2 on Current Rock Albums, No. 6 on Vinyl Albums, and No. 9 on the Top Albums charts. Furthermore, “CMFT” landed Top 10 on the official album charts in Australia, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with Top 20 debuts in the United Kingdom, Finland and Japan (international chart).