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Acclaimed U.S. metal traditionalists WHITE WIZZARD have announced their first release of new music in three years. The group’s new single, “Viral Insanity”, will be released digitally through M-Theory Audio (and in Japan via Trooper Music) on March 24. The song — which sees band founder and bassist Jon Leon joined once again by guitarists James LaRue and Will Wallner — is the first WHITE WIZZARD recording to feature new drummer Jonathan Brown, a longtime fan of the band. Vocal duties for this single, meanwhile, were handled by respected heavy metal veteran Mark Boals (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, DIO DISCIPLES, ROYAL HUNT, RING OF FIRE).

“As a kid, Yngwie Malmsteen’s ‘Trilogy’ album was my favorite, and I always thought the vocals and songs on that album were some of the best ever in heavy metal,” says Leon. “I wrote a song called ‘Viral Insanity’ after COVID-19 hit, and one thing led to another and I was put in touch with Mark. I felt the song was perfect for his voice. We all tracked at home, and I sent him my demos and he nailed it. Will and James just kill the leads, and it was a fun quarantine collaboration for us to do with a musical icon and hero of ours. We hope you enjoy it! We have much more to come in 2021 and beyond. Rock on and stay safe.”

WHITE WIZZARD has flown the flag high for traditional heavy metal since 2007, generating four full-length albums of melodic metal headbangers that are loaded with fast riffs and catchy choruses. The group’s most recent full-length, 2018’s “Infernal Overdrive”, received positive reviews, with critics recognizing a band that was firing on all cylinders with inspiration from an expanded array of influences such as RUSH, LED ZEPPELIN and METALLICA being seamlessly integrated into their existing blueprint.

The current lineup of WHITE WIZZARD was provided an extra injection of guitar greatness by the 2019 return of Wallner — who played on the group’s 2013 record “The Devil’s Cut” — to the fold, rejoining Leon and fellow guitarist LaRue. “Viral Insanity” also features a standout drumming effort from new member Brown and a vocal performance that reinforces why Boals has been a respected great in the genre for four decades.

More info on WHITE WIZZARD’s plans for 2021 will be revealed in the weeks to come.

California metallers ATREYU have released two new songs: “Warrior” (featuring BLINK-182 drummer Travis Barker) and “Underrated”. Check them out below. The tracks arrive five months after the release of “Save Us”, which was the first taste of the band’s music since the departure of vocalist Alex Varkatzas in September.

“Warrior”, “Underrated” and “Save Us” all showcase ATREYU’s current lineup consisting of drummer Brandon Saller focusing completely on singing after previously sharing lead vocals with Varkatzas for most of the band’s two-decade-plus existence. Sitting behind the kit is Saller’s HELL OR HIGHWATER bandmate Kyle Rosa, who had filled in for Saller on drums in 2019 after Varkatzas bowed out of the band’s European tour while dealing with serious back and hernia issues.

Asked in a recent interview with the “RRBG Podcast”if fans have responded positively to ATREYU’s new single and lineup change, guitarist Travis Miguel said: “For the most part, yeah. There’s obviously naysayers and people who are bummed out. And that’s totally fine — I mean, we all expected that. Because change in any shape or form, really, can be very uncomfortable. Especially for a band that loses their frontman, a lot of bands, they either thrive or it just doesn’t resonate the same with the listeners. But luckily, it’s not like we got a complete stranger coming in and moving up to the frontman spot. Brandon, obviously, did just about 50 percent of the vocals on all ATREYU stuff anyway. And he’s been working his ass off kind of transitioning from literally the dude from behind the drums to into the front of the stage.

“That being said, not this past summer, but in 2019, we did a tour in Europe, and Alex, at the time, he had injured his back and he literally couldn’t sit on a plane for 11, 12 hours to fly over to Europe, so he had to sit that one out,” he continued. “So we went over to Europe with this lineup that we have now. So there wasn’t a whole lot of thought [put into it]. It was kind of a no-brainer. Kyle Rosa, who is now playing drums for us, it was almost like that was his tryout, and we didn’t even know it. So it’s just kind of weird how things pan out.”

Miguel also talked about ATREYU’s upcoming album, which was completed last year.

“We were kind of eyeballing May for a release [for the album],” Travis said. “But who knows? Everything is up in the air… We actually filmed three videos over a weekend back toward the tail end of the summer, one of ’em being ‘Save Us’, which is, obviously, already out. And then we have two more kind of being prepped and ready to be served, so to speak.”

Speaking about the musical direction of the new ATREYU material, Travis said: “There are definite heavy bangers on there. It’s definitely ATREYU, which that could mean just about anything, really. A lot of people would consider that complete shitty music. Some people think it’s the greatest thing on earth. It’s all over the place, really, which is kind of what we’ve always done.”

ATREYU spent the first couple of months of 2020 working on material for its eighth album with producer John Feldmann, who previously helmed 2018’s “In Our Wake” and 2007’s breakout LP “Lead Sails, Paper Anchor”.

In August 2019, ATREYU released a deluxe edition of “In Our Wake” via Spinefarm Records. The new version featured the original “In Our Wake” album, along with seven additional tracks. The bonus material included B-sides from the sessions for both “In Our Wake” and 2015’s “Long Live”, along with alternate versions of the title track and “The Time Is Now” from “In Our Wake”. The deluxe edition featured completely redesigned artwork and a total of 19 songs.

METALLICA celebrated the 35th anniversary of its classic third album, “Master Of Puppets”, by performing the song “Battery” on last night’s (Wednesday, March 3) episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”.

This is not the first time that METALLICA has appeared on a talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert. In May 2017, METALLICA performed the song “Now That We’re Dead” on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”. Prior to that, the band sat down for an interview and performed on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” in September 2013. More recently, METALLICA performed “Enter Sandman” on “A Late Show: Super Bowl Edition”, a live special edition of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”, on February 7.

“Master Of Puppets” was the first album METALLICA recorded after signing a major label deal with Elektra Records.

The set only reached No. 29 on the Billboard album chart but has sold over six million copies in the U.S. since.

It is the last record to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed later that year in a tour bus crash.

Several songs from the album are still staples of METALLICA’s live set, including “Battery”, “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” and the title track.

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KORN guitarist Brian “Head” Welch spoke to Lou Brutus of HardDrive Radio about the band’s plans for the coming months. He said (see video below): “I think that we’re gonna get creative with getting through the majority of the year, if we can’t play shows. KORN’s management and the band, we’re just throwing things back and forth — ‘What if we did this?’, ‘What if we did that?’ — and we’re getting pretty close to locking in some cool ideas. So I’m hoping, the crystal ball is showing me that we can have some shows in the fall. I think there’s gonna be smaller shows happening. So I don’t know if that means that KORN goes out and does a club tour — just to get to the fans and give ’em something, and to give us something to do — or I don’t know if it’s something where you have to show proof that you got a vaccine.

“The big shows are — common sense will tell you that getting ten thousand people into a place doesn’t look too promising for this year, but you never know,” he continued. “But we’ll see. And then Europe could be a different story. So I’m hoping, the crystal ball is telling me that we can at least go over there and do some stuff. So, we’ll see, man.”

This past January, Welch told U.K.’s Kerrang! magazine that he and his bandmates should have some “exciting news” to announce pretty soon. A month earlier, Welch explained to Knotfest.com why KORN hasn’t taken part in any live streams, like so many other artists have during the coronavirus pandemic. “Well, we actually were talking about it, and we were doing this and that with management,” he said. “These [other] guys [in KORN] got young kids running around. And what are they gonna do? Just leave their wives with the home school stuff? I’m impressed with my KORN brothers; they’re stepping up and doing school with their kids.

“KORN has toured for 25 years,” he continued. “I left KORN for eight years and got to chill at home. These guys are taking this time to be family men, to be great fathers. Who’s to say we won’t do something soon, or early next year? I don’t know. But I’m telling you, they are the best fathers, and I’m proud of them. So that’s probably the reason — family first.”

When Welch left KORN in early 2005, he simultaneously announced that he kicked his addictions to drugs and alcohol by becoming a born-again Christian.

Both Welch and KORN bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu have had highly public, though separate, conversion experiences, ones that have been greeted with a certain amount of skepticism.

In October, KORN and free-to-play video game titan World Of Tanks Blitz launched a special Halloween collaboration, revealing the music video for “Finally Free”, a track featured on KORN’s latest studio album, “The Nothing”. Thee months earlier, KORN released a cover of THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND classic “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”, featuring a guest appearance by rapper YelaWolf, exclusively via Bandcamp. All proceeds from the track were donated to Awakening Youth, a nonprofit organization devoted to young people faced with the loss of a parent due to divorce, addiction, death, being surrendered for adoption, or other reasons.

“The Nothing” was released in September 2019 via Roadrunner/Elektra. The follow-up to 2016’s “The Serenity Of Suffering” was once again produced by Nick Raskulinecz.

European doomsayers Thronehammer reveal their sophomoric leviathan, Incantation Rites, streaming in full right here.
The post Full Album Stream: Thronehammer – Incantation Rites appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Norwegian black metallers SATYRICON are working on their new album for a 2022 release. Last week, SATYRICON frontman Sigurd “Satyr” Wongraven shared an Instagram photo of him in the studio with THORNS guitarist, keyboardist and programmer Snorre Ruch, and he included the following message: “Snorre Ruch and have been sparring musically for over twenty years with THORNS and @satyriconofficial This project is the new SATYRICON album that I’m working on which is close to a musical work in its approach. It is not a collection of songs and it does not have the instrumentation you are used to hearing. Black Metal has unlimited forms of expression as long as it has the feeling that is unique to real Black Metal. You’ll like this and I look forward to sharing it with you in about one year from now.”

SATYRICON’s latest album, “Deep Calleth Upon Deep”, was released in September 2017 via Napalm Records. The disc was recorded in Oslo, Norway and Vancouver, Canada, during early 2017 and mixed together with revered studio guru Mike Fraser (who previously worked on SATYRICON’s 2006 album, “Now, Diabolical”).

SATYRICON drummer Kjetil-Vidar “Frost” Haraldstad told “The Jasta Show” that “Deep Calleth Upon Deep” is an album that he and his bandmates had worked on “for a long time. It’s all about getting the right expression for each and every song,” he explained. “It has never been anything that we’ve discussed in the band, but at least I personally feel that every song has a life of its own, a very strong and unique identity. This album is really about giving life to those eight songs that constitute it. Like with every SATYRICON album, I guess it’s very, very diverse, and this is more true than ever with the new one. In particular, when it comes to this identity bit, I feel the songs, even if they fit extremely well together in a compilation of songs, each and every one, it’s very, very different from the others — almost like human beings are different from each other.”

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