SHINEDOWN has released a thought-provoking and cinematic music video for its new single, “Planet Zero”. The clip arrives as “Planet Zero” hits No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart this week.

The explosive single, the title track from the band’s seventh studio album, out April 22 via Atlantic Records, is SHINEDOWN’s 17th No. 1 and sixth consecutive chart-topper, breaking a new record for the most No. 1s in the 40-year history of the chart.

Directed by Charles De Meyer, the video brings to life a glimpse of a dystopian future (complete with a menacing A.I. character named Cyren from the album’s interludes who we hear at the end of the music video) that warns of the dangerous dehumanizing consequences of cancel culture run rampant.

On “Planet Zero”, SHINEDOWN is serving up 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. The “Planet Zero” single rings the alarm with a cautionary warning that 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.

SHINEDOWN singer Brent Smith said: “We wanted the first visual of ‘Planet Zero’ to be unlike anything we have done previously. We chose to work with visionary director Charles De Meyer. We did not want a traditional music video feel — we wanted avant-garde, thought-provoking and surreal. Make no mistake, there is a message in the visual, a warning of what is to come, if society does not wake up, and demand the truth be told. Welcome to PLANET ZERO…”

Over the last two decades, SHINEDOWN has cemented its status as one of the most vital and forward-thinking powerhouses in modern rock. Their most ambitious and masterfully realized work to date, “Planet Zero” is a high-concept, ultra-vivid, viscerally charged saga. A critical yet optimistic look at the fractures and frays of a society that has undergone many challenges in recent years, the album is part social commentary and part in-depth exploration of the human psyche.

Produced by SHINEDOWN’s own Eric Bass (who also helmed the band’s 2018 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”.

“Planet Zero” track listing:

01. 2184
02. No Sleep Tonight
03. Planet Zero
04. Welcome
05. Dysfunctional You
06. Dead Don’t Die
07. Standardized Experiences
08. America Burning
09. Do Not Panic
10. A Symptom Of Being Human
11. Hope
12. A More Utopian Future
13. Clueless And Dramatic
14. Sure Is Fun
15. Daylight
16. This Is A Warning
17. The Saints Of Violence And Innuendo
18. Army Of The Underappreciated
19. Delete
20. What You Wanted

SHINEDOWN will kick off “The Revolution’s Live” tour beginning April 1, propelled by the undeniable power of 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.

Photo credit: Jimmy Fontaine

Notorious Swedish black metal collective WATAIN has unleashed “Serimosa”, the second single from its upcoming new studio album, “The Agony & Ecstasy Of Watain”, which will be released on April 29 via Nuclear Blast.

“Serimosa” sees a shift in pace from its furious predecessor “The Howling”, heading towards more of a gloomy and gothic landscape, yet bearing the unmistakable black mark of WATAIN. Lyrically, its contemporary acuteness and prophetic quality is just as unnerving as it is comforting.

Vocalist Erik Danielsson states: “‘Serimosa’ tells of the electric notion of the coming of a great power. The appearance of cracks in the dam that holds the flood of the great sea. A visitor from the beyond, crossing the threshold into the material world.

“Just like ‘Watain’, ‘Serimosa’ is a word/name of power communicated out of unknown origin, appearing into the world sans history, to be approached with thought and reverence. Its linguistic root may be traced from the Latin word Seri (‘serum’), along with Dolorosa (‘pain’), Nebulosa (‘starfog’) and Lacrimosa (“tearfilled”), as if those words and their meanings were spoken as one. In her hand she holds the stern light of renewal, of transformation, of merciless cleansing. Thematically, Serimosa also holds similarities to the fiery Samhara aspect of Nataraja, the doomsday dance of Shiva marking the dissolution of order at the end of an eon.

“May she bring you far and deep.”

“The Agony & Ecstasy Of Watain” track listing

01. Ecstasies In Night Infinite
02. The Howling
03. Serimosa
04. Black Cunt
05. Leper’s Grace
06. Not Sun Nor Man Nor God
07. Before The Cataclysm
08. We Remain
09. Funeral Winter
10. Septentrion

WATAIN will join forces with infamous Norwegian black metal legends MAYHEM for a tour through North America, aptly labeled “The Sanguine Sodomy Of North America”, starting on March 7. They will be supported by U.S. blackened speed metal punks MIDNIGHT.

THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT, the musical meeting of minds between Grammy-nominated STONE SOUR guitarist Josh Rand and PARALANDRA vocalist/guitarist Casandra Carson, will release a new four-song EP, titled “Big F.O.U.R.”, on March 18 via Bloodblast. The collection features a clutch of cover versions, one each from heavy music’s pioneering icons METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX. The duo’s take on ANTHRAX’s “Caught In A Mosh” is revealed today, to coincide with the EP’s pre-order. In addition, the single’s sleeve artwork was designed by none other than ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante.

Rand comments: “Recording a ‘Big F.O.U.R.’ cover EP is something that I have wanted to do for a very very long time, and last fall I decided to finally do it with THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT.

“Without these four bands (METALLICA, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX and SLAYER), my musical career wouldn’t be where it is today. In some ways, you could say this project is paying homage to them or, how I see it, a return to where it all started in my parents’ house as a teenager trying to learn just a piece of the music.

“Each of the four songs that I picked were pivotal in my development as a musician, whether it was learning the intro to ‘One’ on guitar, drums on ‘Symphony [Of Destruction]’ or bass lines in ‘Caught In A Mosh’.

“This EP was a true love and passion project for myself. I feel I captured the vibe and the spirit of the original but with THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT sound. Hopefully you hear it too!”

Rand continues; “‘Among The Living’ is a top three album of all-time for me, so covering ‘Caught In A Mosh’ was a no-brainer for us to do.”

Carson adds: “‘Caught In A Mosh’ has an infectious energy to it, and I’m absolutely stoked with how it turned out.”

Meanwhile, ANTHRAX’s own Frank Bello comments: “Casandra sounds great and Josh did an amazing job nailing all the parts on ‘Caught In A Mosh’. Great job, guys.”

Stylistically, THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT is a fluid combination of classic metal sensibility and Rand’s penchant for pushing the boundaries of contemporary heavy. THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT’s debut self-titled EP came out last summer and is available exclusively through the band’s webstore or via the Nuclear Blast store.

Josh and Casandra’s debut single, “The Nothingness”, was featured on several major playlists across streaming platforms, including Rock Hard on Spotify, Breaking Metal on Apple Music, Break Through Rock on Amazon and Metal Radar on Deezer. “The Nothingness” was also included on SiriusXM Octane’s “Test Drive” show on release.