Barely two years ago, KONVENT released their debut album, “Puritan Masochism”, and swiftly established themselves as a band with phenomenal potential. Rooted in death / doom but audibly unconstrained by expectation or formula, the Danes’ sound just felt slower and heavier and darker than it had any right to be. Oozing out from cracks in the quartet’s barrage of leaden riff was something weird, wonderful and wildly distinctive, and it’s that refined sense of otherness that makes “Call Down The Sun” an even more startling piece of underground heaviness.

KONVENT really swing. It’s a quality that many extreme metal bands miss, but here it makes all the difference. “Into The Distance” is a ridiculously heavy and disorientating starting point, but this band swing so much that the effect is as blearily psychedelic as it is doom-laden and crushing. As an added bonus, Vocalist Rikke Emilie List has one of the most obscene, animalistic growls available to modern ears: on the grand and grinding “Sand Is King”, she scales the scabrous octaves, lost in deathly reverie and in complete, abyssal symbiosis with her bandmates.

On the epic, blackened squall of “In The Soot”, KONVENT go even further out, embracing dissonance and mesmeric monotone, while still showing evidence of a strong, if skewed connection to the SABBATH-ian mothership. On “Grains” they let the frostbite set in, across six minutes of brittle, blackened pomp with lysergic undertones, while “Fatamorgana” is a shape-shifting dirge with a restless spirit and echoes of blitzed-out acid rock. “Never Rest” and “Pipe Dreams” are equally gripping variations on the same hallucinatory theme, while the closing “Harena” is simply astonishing: a grotesque, deathly psych-doom odyssey that sounds like it’s being belched up from the depths of oblivion in real time.

On the surface, “Call Down The Sun” is merely an excellent death / doom record with a blackened heart and psychoactive properties. But spend enough time with this untamed beast of a record, and it will soon become apparent that there is much genius, even more magic and something else, something deeply sinister and weird, going on here too. KONVENT have it all, and it’s beautiful, terrifying and disgustingly fucking heavy. This band should probably rule the world. Or start a cult. Either way, I’m in.



During an appearance on a recent episode of Full Metal Jackie’s nationally syndicated radio show, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson discussed the band’s longevity as well as the group’s multigenerational appeal. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We’re not planning to retire at all, really. I think we’ll probably drop dead onstage. I can think of worse places to drop dead. But no, we’re not planning on retiring. We’re all still firing away [with] loads of energy and loads of enthusiasm, so I can’t wait to get back together [with the other guys to start rehearsing for the upcoming tour].

“With respect to our fans, we’ve got generations of fans now,” he continued. “Even at [my] spoken-word shows, I can crack jokes about the age of the audience only because half the audience is, like, my age, but the other half of the audience is often way, way younger. So it’s brilliant. We’ve got this whole intergenerational thing going. And, obviously, at the MAIDEN shows, it’s even bigger, the emphasis on that. And huge numbers of women. It’s fantastic. ‘Cause it always used to be cliché, back when I was starting in the early ’80s, that heavy metal was just, like, misogynist, male-dominated stuff… But no, it’s not true. There’s loads and loads of heavy metal fans who are girls.”

In July 2019, IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris also told SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” that there has been no talk of MAIDEN retiring anytime soon, despite the fact that all the members are in their 60s.

“We all feel that if we feel we’re not cutting it anymore, then we’ll discuss it and that will probably be the end of it,” he explained. “But at the moment, we don’t feel like that. We feel that we definitely still are pulling our weight, so to speak. We’re just doing well. So far so good. I don’t wanna tempt fate, but we are doing good.”

Dickinson joined IRON MAIDEN in 1981, replacing Paul Di’Anno, and made his recording debut with the band on the 1982 album “The Number Of The Beast”. He quit the band in 1993, pursuing several solo projects, and rejoined in 1999.

Dickinson’s two-month North American spoken-word tour kicked off on January 17 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and will run through the end of March.

Bruce will hit the road with IRON MAIDEN for a new North American leg of the band’s “Legacy Of The Beast” tour in September.

MAIDEN’s latest album, “Senjutsu”, was released in September via BMG. The band’s first LP in six years was recorded three years ago in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Harris.

For “Senjutsu” — loosely translated as “tactics and strategy” — the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai-themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Harris.

“Senjutsu” bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, charting higher than even the band’s early classics like “Powerslave” and “The Number Of The Beast”. Nearly 90 percent of the LP’s 64,000 equivalent album units earned came from pure album sales. The critically acclaimed double album debuted one place higher than 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” and 2010’s “The Final Frontier”, which both peaked at No. 4.

“Senjutsu” was MAIDEN’s 13th album to top in the Top 40 in the U.S.

A blues-rock guitar hero and American music treasure shows us some of the gemstones in his 6-string strongbox, shares an amp with some history, and displays the onboard filter and select stomps he uses to goose his rich tone.Tinsley Ellis broke onto the national blues scene with his early ’80s band, the Heartfixers. By late in the decade, when the Atlanta-based guitarist and singer began releasing albums under his own name, he also became a fixture in the genre’s international club and festival circuit. Over the years he’s earned a reputation for full-throttle live shows and well-crafted albums that hinge on his powerful singing and on his playing, which is based in tradition but packed with signature moves like deft finger slides, the use of open, ringing strings in single-note solos, and bends borrowed from B.B. King but laden with his own emotionalism and rock ‘n’ roll energy.Ellis has been a seemingly tireless road warrior—at least until Covid. But even the pandemic couldn’t slow his songwriting, and he penned more than 200 new titles while in lockdown. You can hear 10 of those tunes, including 6-string bonfires like “Slow Train To Hell,” on his new album Devil May Care—the 20th in his catalog. Back on the road this year, Ellis stopped at Nashville’s 3rd & Lindsley on March 3, where he showed Premier Guitar his rig and told stories of close encounters with B.B. King and other greats after soundcheck and, that night, delivered a sermon on the power and glory of blues. His current run continues until the end of May, and Ellis has just been nominated in the 2022 Blues Music Awards for Blue-Rock Entertainer of the Year.[Brought to you by D’Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr]Meet the FleetTinsley Ellis favors classic tone flavors, and he gets them through classic guitars. At the 3rd & Lindsley gig, he relied on his 1959 Fender Stratocaster, his mid-’60s Gibson ES-345, a 1930s National resonator, and an ’80s Gibson Moderne. He also travels with a Les Paul and another Strat when the mood or need arises.A Fine ’59Here’s a close-up of that 1959 Strat. It’s been one of his companions for decades. When asked if he’s concerned about traveling with such a superb vintage instrument, he replies: “I own ’em to play ’em.” And indeed he does, eliciting a wide variety of classic single-coil tones from its barking pickups as he dances over its rosewood neck. One snag: the middle single-coil is a replacement, because the original was swiped years ago when he brought the guitar in for a repair. Ouch!Tinsley’s No. 1Dig that Varitone switch—which means this 1967 Gibson is an ES-345. It’s Ellis’ main axe and sounds killer through his double Fender amp setup and under his hands. “I bought this guitar in the ’70s, because I wanted to sound like B.B. King,“ he says. He loves the way the Varitone works as a filter, giving him that B.B. King Live at the Regal tone on demand, and even taking him into Peter Green turf. You can see every road mile on the ES’s beautifully weathered face. This guitar and the Strat are featured throughout the Devil May Care album, along with a Les Paul and several other carefully curated axes.A Unmodded ModerneAlthough Gibson designed the Moderne in 1957, along with the Flying V and Explorer, it was not produced—save for a few prototypes—until 1982. Even then, few were made over just two years, although the guitar returned to Gibson’s catalog in 2012. Ellis keeps his stock Moderne tuned in open D, primarily, for playing slide, and the guitar seems to have an affinity for Elmore James’ material.Where’s Pokey?Note the Moderne’s very un-Gibson-like “Gumby” headstock!Take a Shine to This!This is a 1932 National resonator, with its chrome body decorated by an oasis motif on the front and back. Ellis keeps this little doggie, a recent acquisition, mostly tuned in open G, and when he plays Muddy Waters’ “Can’t Be Satisfied,” laying his bronze slide on its strings, it’s impossible to not be carried back to the days this guitar—and the blues genre—were young.Silver BeachesHere’s the backside of Ellis’ National.A Super Super Reverb and Its Deluxe SidekickEllis is a die-hard Fender amp fan and runs his vintage Super Reverb and reissue Deluxe in parallel to achiever his widescreen tone. This Super Reverb is a little more super than meets the eye. Ellis purchased the 40-watt wonder from Thom Doucette, who played harmonica with the Allman Brothers on the classic 1971 album At Fillmore East. Doucette owned two Supers, he and told Ellis he either played this one or its sibling—he no longer remembered exactly which he’d used—on the nights the album was recorded. Oh, and one more thing: This amp was also used by Stevie Ray Vaughan whenever he sat in with Ellis, who told us he hasn’t changed the settings—volume at 6, treble just past 8, mid at 6, bass at 3, and reverb just past 2—since the first time SRV plugged into it. “When I heard Stevie play though that amp, I thought, ‘Aha, that’s how it’s supposed to be set!’”Basic BurnersEllis keeps his pedalboard simple. There’s a Boss TU-2 chromatic tuner, a Nobles ODR-1 Natural Overdrive, a BBE Soul Vibe rotary speaker emulator—way easier to carry than the Leslie heard on Devil May Care, and a Real McCoy Custom Wah.

It’s been a long goddamn while since a hardcore band blasted out of the gate with a sound as feral and kinetic – yet savvily refined in construction – as Guardrails. Hear them now.
The post Track Premiere: Guardrails — “Yours Truly” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

In a new interview with Australia’s May The Rock Be With You, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS drummer Eric Kretz was asked if he and his bandmates have had any discussions about using the coronavirus downtime to work on new material. The 55-year-old musician responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Yeah, there was at first, but then it kind of goes into, ‘Do you guys wanna do a record?’ And we’re so disappointed that we finished the ‘Perdida’ record [STP’s first-ever acoustic album] and then we weren’t able to tour it. And I think in some ways, it was actually very therapeutic just to take a break — just take a break. The whole world is hurting right now, and it’s just, like, ‘Let’s just hang out with our families.’ We all have kids around the same age, so let’s just really enjoy them growing up and deal with the hardship of just the constant lockdowns and the stresses that were going along with COVID. So I’m sure what’s gonna happen is now, after a couple of years break, I know Dean [DeLeo, guitar] worked on a record, TRIP THE WITCH, and Robert [DeLeo, bass] has been working on a really cool solo record. So everybody’s just kind of doing their own thing. And what you’re gonna find out now is I bet right when this [upcoming Australian] tour is done, it’s gonna be, like, ‘Let’s start a new record. Let’s do this [and] keep going.’ And then, as we’re lining up tours for the States and for Europe for the rest of the year, I think it’s just gonna be, like, ‘Let’s keep jumping in the studio.'”

Regarding whether “Perdida” is indicative of STP’s future direction or if that album was just a “one-off experimental thing,” Eric said: “It was just experimental. I’m sure you know from our catalog, we’ve always had a song or maybe two that were similar to that. And it was just, ‘Let’s just do a whole record like that.’ And the majority of it we wrote here at my place where I have a studio. We just sat around the couch with a couple of acoustics and some hand drums and just kind of arranged the songs and put the lyrics together and just kind of got it all together. And then recording was sometimes it’d be a few of us together, sometimes it’d be one person at a time or two people at a time, and just kind of developing the layers. And Robert and Dean really had some great ideas with expanding what they wanted to do with the harmonies and melodies and continued to use instruments that we haven’t touched on before. So in that sense it was a different avenue for us to take.

“I would say the next record — my guess is it’s probably gonna be the hardest and loudest record we’ve ever had, just to say, ‘Okay, we’ve done that. Now let’s do this and let’s try something different,'” he added. “Or it could be totally a mixture of the two. We kind of don’t know until we get there. In a few more months, like I said, we’ll probably be itching to record again.”

In November, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS scrapped the remaining shows on their tour — including an appearance at the Welcome To Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida — after a “member” of the band’s “organization” tested positive for COVID-19.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS features three original members — the DeLeo brothers and Kretz.

Singer Jeff Gutt, a 45-year-old Michigan native who spent time in the early-2000s nu-metal act DRY CELL, among other bands, and was a contestant on “The X Factor”, joined STONE TEMPLE PILOTS after beating out roughly 15,000 hopefuls during an extended search that began more than a year earlier.

Original STONE TEMPLE PILOTS singer Scott Weiland, who reunited with the group in 2010 after an eight-year hiatus but was dismissed in 2013, died in December 2015 of a drug overdose.

Chester Bennington, who joined STP in early 2013, departed nearly three years later to spend more time with his main band LINKIN PARK. Bennington committed suicide in July 2017.

“Perdida” was Gutt’s second LP with STP. His recording debut with the group was on its self-titled seventh album, which arrived in March 2018.

Later this week, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS will embark on the “Under The Southern Stars” tour of Australia with CHEAP TRICK, BUSH, ROSE TATTOO, ELECTRIC MARY and BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB.