DOROTHY, the band led by Hungarian-born vocalist/writer Dorothy Martin, will release a new album, “Gifts From The Holy Ghost”, on April 22 via Roc Nation. She has also shared her anthemic new track “Black Sheep” — an homage to her fans and a rallying cry for unity: “we are blood, we are family,” Dorothy breaks curses, going toe-to-toe with the blistering guitar riffs.

“Gifts From The Holy Ghost” was born from a sense of divine urgency, it is her most bombastic and gloriously, victorious rock and roll work yet. Each song built on triumph—the album is a healing and remedial experience, made to unify listeners and point them towards a life full of purpose.

Martin’s life changed forever when she was forced to face death on her tour bus some three years ago. After her guitar technician had taken an overdose, Dorothy instinctively began praying for his survival. While he may have temporarily died, the technician was astonishingly, miraculously restored back to life. It was this moment that seemed to bring Dorothy to life too. It was this divine intervention that caused a radical and spiritual awakening in the singer, the result of which can be heard on “Gifts From The Holy Ghost”, Dorothy’s third studio album as front person for DOROTHY.

While the band’s first, irreverently named album “Rockisdead”, was made on a combination of whiskey and heartbreak — inspiring Rolling Stone to name them one of rock’s most exciting new acts, and Jay-Z to sign them to his label Roc Nation — “Gifts” was built on recovery, health, and holiness, in a way that reverses the clichéd ‘good girl gone bad narrative’.

With the combined powers of Keith Wallen, Jason Hook, Scott Stevens, Phil X, Trevor Lukather, Joel Hamilton and the legendary ear of producer Chris Lord Alge, “Gifts From The Holy Ghost” is made from a musical palette which seems to encompass each of the musician’s influences, as well as many of the essential sounds of rock music’s history — from swampy blues to ’90s alternative — in a way that makes the case for rock and roll itself. Not only is the genre alive, but it’s more invigorated than ever.

Dorothy has always been an instinctual writer and artist. Throughout her life, she’s been asking the big questions, both in and outside her art: “What’s the meaning of life? Why are we here? How are we here?” When she couldn’t find the answers to those questions, she’d numb out the empty uncertainty with drugs and alcohol. She was eventually admitted to rehab and a new chapter was opened in her spiritual journey.

The album’s lyrics are a perfect balance of specificity and generality, so that the listener can attach their own darknesses and triumphs to the songs, while still getting a sense of Dorothy’s own. “We are all one human family.” she declares.

With “Gifts From The Holy Ghost”, Dorothy identifies her purpose as an artist. She conquers darkness with light, numbness with feeling, disharmony with unity — all while delivering one of this year’s most fun rock and roll records.

“Black Sheep” follows the album’s monumental lead single “Rest In Peace” which pushed DOROTHY into Top 20 at Active Rock Radio charts this month and garnered over four million streams worldwide.

DOROTHY kicked off an extensive 40-date U.S. tour in her hometown of San Diego on Monday and continues southbound this week before heading up the East Coast.

“Gifts From The Holy Ghost” track listing:

01. Beautiful Life
02. By Guns
03. Rest In Peace
04. Top Of The World
05. Hurricane
06. Close To Me Always
07. Black Sheep
08. Touched By Fire
09. Made To Die
10. Gifts From the Holy Ghost

Photo by Courtney Dellafiora

TRIVIUM singer and guitarist Matthew Heafy has shared another song from “Rashomon”, the long-awaited album from his IBARAKI project.

Watch the video for the song “Rōnin”, which features MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE singer Gerard Way and EMPEROR frontman Ihsahn, below.

“‘A rōnin is a masterless warrior,” states Heafy. “The final two full compositions on ‘Rashomon’ see a significant shift musically. The album as a whole — with the exception of the intro and outro — is actually presented in chronological order of earliest written to latter-most. The actual guitar and bass tracks are a time-capsule of sorts in that their parts — on the final album — is actually from the year they were tracked.”

He continues: “One can begin to see the shifts as the years went on for the writing of the album. ‘Kagutsuchi’/’Ibaraki-Doji’ being written and tracked in 2010/2011, all the way up to ‘Rōnin’/’Susanoo No Mikot’ being written and tracked in 2016/2017.”

As for his collaboration with Way, Heafy says: “Gerard Way has been a longtime inspiration for me — like Ihsahn and Nergal — I have looked to Gerard as a constant source of motivation to be creative. While Gerard and I may be from different genres than where IBARAKI and black metal stem from — outsiders of sorts — the spirit and intent of our performances is what unites our passion for pushing boundaries.”

“Rashomon” will be released on May 6 via Nuclear Blast.

Last month, IBARAKI offered fans a taste and a tease of the music by sharing the video for “Akumu”, featuring a guest appearance by BEHEMOTH’s Adam “Nergal” Darski. A month earlier, IBARAKI released “Tamashii No Houkai”, featuring special guest Ihsahn, who is a core contributor and partner in this project.

“Rashomon” track listing:

01. Hakanaki Hitsuzen
02. Kagutsuchi
03. Ibaraki-Dōji
04. Jigoku Dayū
05. Tamashii No Houkai
06. Akumu (Feat. Nergal)
07. Komorebi
08. Rōnin (feat. Gerard Way)
09. Susanoo No Mikoto (feat. Ihsahn)
10. Kaizoku

IBARAKI — the name for a terrifying Japanese demon taken from feudal legend — is more than a solo project. It’s the end-result of a journey of an artist finding his voice. Its inspirations include everything from an adoration for the extremes of black metal to the exuberant storytelling of Gerard Way to the adventuresome worldliness of tragic bon viveur Anthony Bourdain. It’s a reflection of Heafy’s multifaceted interests as well as a profound affirmation of his Japanese-American identity, and one that led him to confront one of his family’s most tragic moments. Like the artist behind it, there is much to the story of IBARAKI and it began with a timid e-mail to one of black metal’s most revered and influential figures.

Heafy, a fan of black metal before he even started TRIVIUM, reached out to label reps for Ihsahn of EMPEROR, and the artist personally responded. He recalls: “It was so cool to get that nod and it inspired me to start checking some of his solo stuff. He’d just released his own solo record and I’d never heard anything like it — saxophones, clean singing, jazz chords. It was incredible to me. He’s this non-stop inventor. So I started writing in a totally different way.”

The exposure to Ihsahn’s solo work that would inspire the gradual craftsmanship that would eventually become IBARAKI. It was also the beginning of a friendship and creative collaboration that would eventually compel Ihsahn to take a leap of his own into a newfound role as producer on the project. While much of the material for IBARAKI was assembled over those months and years — as much a songwriting process as an exchange of ideas between friends — it wasn’t until the pandemic that the space was created and the idea could really flourish.

“It was very loose,” says Ihsahn. “We just had rough demos for a very long time because we’re arguably pretty busy people, but suddenly, everything was canceled and we had time on our hands for the first time, so it was like, ‘Okay, let’s do this.’ We never got to work in the same room; he’d track guitars and send them to me, I’d run them through my studio and send them back. It was a new way of working, but it was like he was there on the other side of the glass. Matt is a very, very positive energetic and passionate music fan — we have similar attitudes to music and open mindedness. We hit it off, and it’s been really rewarding to me.”

The creative interactions between the pair are the result of a deep trust borne of a commonality of their experience. “We both started our respective bands when we were 13,” Ihsahn says. “We got signed when we were 16. That’s young, and in essence we both found our path in life at an early age. We’ve talked a lot about that and our different experiences with that, because it’s like we know nothing else.”

While material was primarily written by Heafy, Ihsahn engineered and produced and contributed some song structures, plus TRIVIUM drummer Alex Bent and bassist Paolo Gregoletto and guitarist Corey Beaulieu contributed to various tracks. Ihsahn’s wife Heidi even sampled some natural sounds from the forest near their home and his entire family. Additional guests include the aforementioned Way and Nergal.

Ihsahn also encouraged Heafy to seek out new avenues for lyrical inspiration, namely his Japanese heritage. While an array of stories have been told via the tattoos on his body, such as the specific ancient Japanese story of gods, goddesses, and monsters from the Shinto religion taught to him by his mother, he began pouring the stories into lyrics.

While the rich mythology and folklore of Japan that would give IBARAKI its unique aesthetics and influences, it also provides the artist with the catalyst to contemplate his own identity and to consider how recent tragedies stateside have highlighted the need for better representation in metal.

Welcome back to Mod Garage. This month we’ll have a deeper look into auto-splitting pickups on an HSS-configured Strat and similar guitars. We covered this a long time ago, exploring the basic version of this wiring in “Stratocaster Auto-Split Mod.” Today we’ll take it one step further with a pro version and discuss what can be done with it.The HSS setup with a bridge humbucker plus two traditional single-coils is the perfect combination for many Strat players, but it’s not limited to Strats. With the bridge humbucker you have a powerful pickup for soloing and rocking the crowd, while the two single-coil pickups give you traditional sounds and everything in between. When you choose a bridge humbucker with 4-conductor wiring, you can even split it for more possible sounds and to also get the famous in-between “quack” tone with the bridge and the middle pickup together in parallel. That’s exactly where the auto-split wiring comes in when you want an easy-to-operate setup. Let’s have a look what can be done with such an HSS pickup configuration and a 5-way pickup selector switch.Some players may not need the in-between pickup position with the bridge plus the middle pickup together in parallel. Maybe they can’t use this tone in their musical context, or they simply don’t like these slightly hollow tones with less output. Even Leo Fender himself never liked this tone that he called “out of phase” (which is technically incorrect). These players are fine with a standard 2-conductor bridge pickup and standard Stratocaster 5-way switching.Other players who don’t need or want the in-between pickup positions may still be interested in the additional tones a bridge humbucker with a 4-conductor wiring can provide. There are three general possibilities for such a pickup:Both coils in series (standard humbucker operation with full output)Both coils in parallel (a kind of hum-free, single-coil-like tone with less output)One coil shut down to ground (real split mode with only one coil engaged)Because you can shut down both coils to ground leaving the other coil active, it’s four different tones you can squeeze out of a humbucker and, depending on what you want, there are several possibilities to get these tones:With a simple 2-way toggle switch you can shut down one of the coils to ground to get an additional single-coil-like tone from the bridge pickup. This can also be used to get the in-between sound together with the middle pickup. You can also use any standard push-pull or push-push pot, or the Fender S-1 switch, for this operation, so you don’t have to alter the appearance of your guitar.If you want more, you can use a DPDT on-on-on switch like the DiMarzio “multi-sound switch” to get all three sounds from your bridge humbucker. This operation can’t be done from a push-pull or push-push pot—you need an additional 3-way toggle for this.If you want all four possible sounds from your bridge humbucker, an additional rotary switch is the way to go. We discussed this just a few months ago in “Mod Garage: How to Triple Shot Your Humbuckers.”That’s where the pro version kicks in, replacing the standard 5-way switch with a “super switch” that has four individual switching stages instead of only two, eliminating the two peeves from the basic auto-split wiring.Please note: This is only possible with a humbucker sporting 4-conductor wiring. You can’t do this with a humbucker with traditional 2-conductor wiring! Of course, there are players who don’t need all the gadgets. They simply want a powerful humbucker tone in the bridge position and the typical traditional Strat tones from all the other switching positions, including the in-between position of the bridge plus middle pickup. The auto-split wiring is perfect for these players because it’s a set-and-forget situation.What will happen without the auto-split wiring when dialing in the bridge humbucker together with the middle single-coil pickup in parallel? You won’t hear a big difference in sound compared to the bridge humbucker alone, simply because usually the bridge humbucker is a lot louder compared to the single-coil and will dominate the tone by out-acting the single-coil. To combat this problem, the auto-split wiring will automatically (hence the name) split the humbucker into a single-coil by shutting down the other coil to ground for a traditional in-between sound of both pickups, like we all know from a regular SSS-configured Strat. The switching matrix of the auto-split wiring looks like this:Bridge humbucker with both coils in series for full humbucker operationBridge humbucker split + middle single-coil in parallelMiddle single-coilMiddle + neck single-coil in parallelNeck single-coilDeciding what coil of the humbucker will be sent to ground leaving the other active could easily be the subject of a whole column. Depending on the winding direction and polarity of both pickups, you usually don’t want to end up with an out-of-phase tone when both pickups are engaged and when your middle pickup is RWRP (reverse-wound, reverse-polarity), you also want to have the hum-cancelling function this switching position can provide. So … choose carefully!While the basic version of this wiring works great, it has some peeves that some players complain about:It’s not possible to freely arrange the dual tone controls. They are fixed to one for the middle and the other for the neck single-coil, leaving the bridge humbucker without any tone control, like in standard Strat wiring.You’ll have to use individual tone caps for each tone control.That’s where the pro version kicks in, replacing the standard 5-way switch with a “super switch” that has four individual switching stages instead of only two, eliminating the two peeves from the basic auto-split wiring.Good idea, but unfortunately the road to hell is paved with good resolutions.The super switches are physically a lot larger compared to the standard version, so take care that they’ll fit into your guitar. Recently I had to upgrade an Ibanez HSS guitar with this wiring, and it was impossible to put a super switch in without extensive routing to make space for it. I had such problems before with Yamaha and Fender guitars. The PCB-based versions of this switch require less space, so often this is the way to go.Often such extended auto-split wirings are trying to also handle what I like to call the “resistance paradigm.” Fender used 250k pots for their guitars with single-coil pickups in the early days, while Gibson used 500k pots for their humbucker-loaded guitars. I don’t think the resistance values were chosen for any tonal reasons. We’re talking about the 1940s and ’50s, when they simply didn’t have the choices we have today. Especially Fender used whatever was available in large quantities for a low price, and it’s likely that Gibson had a similar approach.Today you can still find unfounded rumors all over the internet that single-coils sound best with 250k pots and humbuckers with 500k pots. While the basic idea behind this contains some truth (500k pots still leave some high-end with a humbucker while 250k pots prevent the single-coil from sounding too harsh), such rules are not set in stone and usually such debates totally neglect that we’re talking about a passive system.Often 500k pots are used for an auto-split wiring, incorporating some additional resistors to “convert” them to 250k for the single-coil pickups. Good idea, but unfortunately the road to hell is paved with good resolutions. Digging deeper at this point is too much for this column but may be a good subject for a follow-up. My personal recommendation: Forget about it. In more than 20 years, I have tried every variation of such jack-of-all-trades wirings and not a single one really worked in a useable way. Here are my two cents regarding such a wiring:A good and useful distribution of the tone controls is one 500k pot for only the bridge humbucker and the other one 250k for the two single-coils.Using two tone caps (one for each tone control) is simply perfect for this wiring, i.e., I really like to use a small cap value for the humbucker to control the warmth of it plus a traditional value for the two single-coil pickups.Using a 250k master volume works excellent because in a passive system like a Strat, you can benefit from the much better taper regarding evenness compared to a 500k pot. The loss in high-end compared to a 500k pot is marginal: measurable, but not audible. Using a treble-bleed network is a matter of choice and up to your personal preferences.The wiring layout seen in the diagram at the top of this page is what I recommend and that most players will be happy with, so here we go. I assume that the middle pickup will be a RWRP type, and as usual, I used the Seymour Duncan color code for the humbucker. If you have a humbucker from a different company, you’ll have to convert the shown color code with one of the converting charts online. The bare wire of the humbucker always goes to ground, no matter what type it is. I tried to keep the illustration as clean as possible by leaving out all ground wires, so, as usual, they’re shown with the international symbol for ground. Solder all these connections to the back of a pot of your choice.That’s it. Next month we’ll build a cool and simple yet very effective diagnostic gadget for electric guitars and basses. I use it in my shop daily and you will love it for sure, so stay tuned!Until then … keep on modding!

Canadian metal legends ANVIL will embark on a U.S. tour in June. They will hit the road in support of their new album, “Impact Is Imminent”, which will arrive on May 20 via AFM Records.

ANVIL guitarist/vocalist Steve “Lips” Kudlow stated about returning to the stage: “Hell and high water has come and gone. Now it’s time to rock! It can’t happen soon enough!”

ANVIL drummer Robb Reiner added: “FUCK COVID…After two-plus years away, here we come… Looking forward to seeing all you pounders… Let’s make sure to rock that shit!”

Tour dates:

June 02 – Providence, RI – Alchemy
June 03 – Brooklyn, NY – The Knitting Factory
June 04 – Vineland, NJ – The Landis Theater
June 05 – Millersville, PA – Phantom Power
June 08 – Pittsburgh, PA – Crafthouse
June 09 – Detroit, MI – The Magic Bag
June 10 – Cincinnati, OH – Legends Bar & Venue
June 11 – Knoxville, TN – BrickYard Bar and Grill
June 15 – Vienna, VA – Jammin Java
June 17 – Virginia Beach, VA – Vanguard
June 18 – Durham, NC – Pinhook
June 19 – Greenville, SC – The Radio Room
June 22 – Memphis, TN – Growlers
June 23 – Oklahoma City, OK – Whisky Nights
June 24 – Fort Worth, TX – Ridglea
June 25 – Austin, TX – The Lost Well
June 27 – El Paso, TX – Rockhouse
June 28 – Tucson, AZ – The Rock
June 29 – Phoenix, AZ – The Rebel Lounge
June 30 – West Hollywood, CA – Whisky A Go Go
July 01 – Garden Grove, CA – Garden Amp
July 02 – San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick
July 07 – Berkeley, CA – Cornerstone
July 08 – Fresno, CA – Fulton 55
July 09 – Reno, NV – Altururo’s
July 10 – Ukiah, CA – The Thirsty Axe
July 13 – Seattle, WA – Substation
July 14 – Bellingham, WA – Shakedown
July 15 – Portland, OR – Dante’s
July 16 – Boise, ID – The Olympic
July 20 – Denver, CO – Herman’s Hideaway
July 22 – Wichita, KS – Barleycorn’s
July 23 – Des Moines, IA – Lefty’s Live Music
July 24 – Sioux Falls, SD – Icon Lounge
July 28 – St Paul, MN – Turf Club
July 29 – Madison, WI – Crucible
July 30 – Iowa City, IA – Wildwood
July 31 – Chicago, IL – Reggies

On “Impact Is Imminent”, ANVIL fires off merciless riff attacks, relentlessly driving drums and impressive bass grooves, complemented by vocal melodies and lyrics that inevitably drill themselves into the listener’s aural tract. As always, Lips and Reiner are at the epicenter of this heavy metal extravaganza. For the past eight years, they have been supported by bassist Chris Robertson, who not only complements the ANVIL fold on a personal level, but also enhances the tracks with his powerful low frequency bass parts and backing vocals.

Earlier in the month, ANVIL shared a first single alongside a music video for the full pedal-to-the-metal anthem “Ghost Shadow”. Lips stated about the track: “‘Ghost Shadow’ is my sixth sense telling me I’m being watched. Could be Internet trolls or paranormal phenomenon. Either way, the song is heavy as fuck.”

Regarding “Impact Is Imminent”, Lips said: “None of our previous albums blends music and lyrics into as tight a unit as ‘Impact Is Imminent’. Everything comes together homogeneously. As a result, the new material sounds monolithic, right down to the very last details, both in terms of rhythm and harmonies. In the past, our studio sessions were sometimes like a little like jumping in at the deep end, with us having to improvise a lot and making decisions at short notice. Working on ‘Impact Is Imminent’, not only was there plenty of time for the songwriting process in the run-up to the recordings, but I also had the leisure to put all my ideas to the acid test and work on them until they were perfect.”

Like its three predecessors, “Anvil Is Anvil” (2016), “Pounding The Pavement” (2018) and “Legal At Last” (2019), “Impact Is Imminent” was produced by Martin “Mattes” Pfeiffer and Jörg Uken at Uken’s Soundlodge studios.

Last month, Lips told Canada’s The Metal Voice: “The whole thing is a bit weird and odd because we put out an album and then never got to tour for it,” referencing the aforementioned “Legal At Last”. “So it’s, like, where is the tour for the last album already? So, what is the last album, just spinning our wheels? What was that? What happened? Now I’m in a position where I’m putting out another album, and I’m gonna have to actually try to push both albums. It’s, like, I don’t know. I’ve never been in a position like that.”

Lips added: “And then at the same time, while all this is going on, I got back from [recording in] Germany, of course, in October and have been writing songs since I got back. Because, of course, the last song I wrote was before I left — months before — so I had months of time off, not doing anything. So we started back in on it. We’re at [song] number 10 already — for the next album.”

ANVIL, a Toronto-based group, was formed in 1978 by childhood friends Kudlow and Reiner. Both came from Jewish families and had been playing music together since their teens. ANVIL is considered to have been an influence on many metal bands, including METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX.

Though initially a four-piece band, ANVIL’s current lineup includes Kudlow, Reiner and Robertson.

ANVIL gained popularity and new fans since the 2008 theatrical documentary, “Anvil: The Story Of Anvil”, which is currently available on Netflix. Made by former ANVIL roadie, filmmaker Sacha Gervasi, it became a cult hit, described by the Chicago Tribune as “a sort of real-life version of ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ with more appealing characters and real emotions.”

In a 2015 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Lips stated about ANVIL’s longevity: “We learned a very early and very brutal lesson in our younger years — you don’t let up, ever. You keep the tank full and you keep driving it. You don’t stop. ‘Cause stopping means that you’re gonna slip. So we’ve been on this survival-terror mode to keep it going.”

SHINEDOWN has released a new single, “The Saints Of Violence And Innuendo”. The track is taken from the band’s upcoming album, “Planet Zero”, due on April 22 via Atlantic Records.

While lead single “Planet Zero” — SHINEDOWN’s record-breaking 18th No. 1 — remains in the top spot at Active Rock Radio for the fourth consecutive week, “The Saints Of Violence And Innuendo” is a frenetic-yet-massively-catchy track that takes on the platforms and institutions that don’t value honesty and instead use half-truths, false narratives and innuendo to push agendas that are often not reflective of the people’s best interest.

Lyrics from “The Saints Of Violence And Innuendo”: “Tell me the truth / Or tell me a lie / Tell me what I’ve gotta say to get out of this room alive / Show me the answers / Or give me a clue / There’s not enough space in the miles between me and you / Oh no / Here we go / Here come the saints of violence and innuendo / So tell me truth / Are you really surprised? / You live in a world where empathy goes to die”.

“Planet Zero” and “The Saints Of Violence And Innuendo” introduce an album that sees SHINEDOWN taking on the forces that keep us divided at a time when we need to be coming together. These songs warn of the dangerous dehumanizing consequences of cancel culture run rampant — if we shut each other down, we risk losing empathy, respect for one another, and our ability to communicate and unify in a way that leads to actual progress and understanding. “Planet Zero” is an incisive look at some of society’s most critical issues, including the increasingly toxic division among those of differing ideologies, the need for honesty in our public discourse, and the corrosive effects of social media and cancel culture on mental health and humanity. Part social commentary and part in-depth exploration of the human psyche, there is also hope, triumph, and reminders that we all need one another. After all, it is the band’s impassioned striving for unity that has long been at the heart of their creative output.

The high-concept, ultra-vivid, viscerally charged album was produced by SHINEDOWN’s Eric Bass (who also helmed the band’s 2018 acclaimed album “Attention Attention”) and recorded at Bass’s newly built Big Animal Studio in South Carolina. “Planet Zero” matches its immersive world-building and takedown of authoritarianism with a deliberately unvarnished sound. The album is spliced with interludes featuring Cyren, an insidious and unsettling robot character that appears throughout the “Planet Zero” journey. While a raw ferocity fuels much of “Planet Zero” on tracks like “The Saints Of Violence” and “Innuendo”, “No Sleep Tonight”, and “America Burning”, there is also hope, triumph, and reminders that we all need one another on songs like “Daylight”, “Dysfunctional You”, and “A Symptom Of Being Human”. After all, it is the band’s impassioned drive for unity that has long been at the heart of their creative output and deeply informed the making of “Planet Zero”.

SHINEDOWN will kick off “The Revolution’s Live” tour beginning April 1, propelled by the undeniable power of singer Brent Smith’s voice and their biggest stage production yet. Following this April and May run with special guests THE PRETTY RECKLESS and DIAMANTE, SHINEDOWN will head to Daytona Beach for Welcome To Rockville 2022 where they’ll headline Saturday, May 21 alongside GUNS N’ ROSES and RISE AGAINST. In June, SHINEDOWN will head overseas for a European run featuring festival appearances at Rock Im Park and Rock Am Ring in Germany, Download festival in the U.K. and Hellfest in France along with select shows with IRON MAIDEN. The band will then embark on a run of Canadian dates beginning in July with support from POP EVIL and AYRON JONES.

SHINEDOWN recently announced a new summer/fall 2022 U.S. tour in support of “Planet Zero”. The trek, with support from JELLY ROLL and John Harvie, will kick off on September 3 in Kansas City, Missouri and end on October 8 in Anaheim, California. SHINEDOWN will also perform at the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California on October 9.

Photo credit: Sanjay Parikh

The official music video for DEF LEPPARD’s new single, “Kick”, can be seen below. The clip was helmed by Anuk Rohde, a Berlin-based director with Spanish roots, who has demonstrated her capacity for creating a distinctive visual language in music videos she has directed for Alice Merton, SE SO NEON, RAMMSTEIN and others.

“Kick” is the first single from DEF LEPPARD’s upcoming album, “Diamond Star Halos”, which will arrive on May 27 via UMe. The follow-up to 2015’s self-titled LP is available for pre-order now in multiple configurations, including a deluxe edition, 2-LP vinyl, digital formats and more. Exclusive bundles including newly designed album merch have also launched.

DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen, who came up with “Kick” as an additional track after the first 14 songs were already completed, told Billboard that “‘Kick’ represented where we were at as well. It’s got that glam rock feel, that hand-clap groove, big vocals. It was just a no-brainer. It was not only that it’s got to be on the album, it’s got to be the first single as well.”

“It’s a stadium anthem, and we were about to go into stadiums,” singer Joe Elliott said. “We didn’t write it for that reason, but Phil’s always trying to write the next ‘Sugar’ or ‘We Will Rock You’ or ‘I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll’. We all are, but he actually came up with one, and it’s, like, ‘Yeah, we’ve got to do that,’ so now it’s a 15-song record.”

“Kick” thrusts into an anthemic stadium-ready frenzy kickstarted with driving guitars and bombastic drums woven into its musical fabric. Meanwhile, the chorus has all the makings of another iconic LEPPARD hit with its skyscraping vocals and melodies the band has become synonymous for. The artwork for “Diamond Star Halos” is art in itself. The design follows pedigree with their instantly recognizable album covers from their celebrated past. With images by world renowned photographer and director Anton Corbijn, styling concepts by Maryam Malakpour and graphics by the U.K.-based Munden Brothers, the design truly follows the band’s influence through their eyes today.

Over the past two years, DEF LEPPARD recorded “Diamond Star Halos” simultaneously in three different countries with Elliott in Ireland, Rick Savage (bass) in England, and Collen, Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Allen (drums) in the United States. Without the pressure of timelines or a fixed schedule, they poured all of their energy into crafting 15 meaningful tracks with a mixture of classic spirit meets modern fire. Thematically, they nodded to their earliest collective influences such as David Bowie, T.REX and MOTT THE HOOPLE, among others. The title itself notably references T.REX’s “Bang a Gong (Get It On)”. However, they didn’t embark on this journey alone. The multi-Grammy Award-winning and legendary artist Alison Krauss lent her instantly recognizable and angelic voice to “This Guitar” and “Lifeless”, while David Bowie pianist Mike Garson performs on “Goodbye For Good This Time” and “Angels (Can’t Help You Now)”.

“Kick” can be streamed below, with “Diamond Star Halos” now available for preorder on the DEF LEPPARD web site in a variety of formats, including a deluxe edition, two-LP vinyl, digital and more.

“Diamond Star Halos” track listing:

01. Take What You Want
02. Kick
03. Fire It Up
04. This Guitar (feat. Alison Krauss]
05. Sos Emergency
06. Liquid Dust
07. U Rok Mi
08. Goodbye For Good This Time
09. All We Need
10. Open Your Eyes
11. Gimme A Kiss
12. Angels (Can’t Help You Now)
13. Lifeless (feat. Alison Krauss)
14. Unbreakable
15. From Here To Eternity

DEF LEPPARD’s “The Stadium Tour” with MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020 but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.