Hear current and former members of Stygian Crown, Morgion, Exhausted Prayer, Witchaven get their NWOSDM on in Ceremonial Decay.
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MORBID ANGEL has canceled its appearance at this year’s Maryland Deathfest, set to take place May 26-29 at various venues in Baltimore, Maryland.

The festival organizers announced the death metal veterans’ decision to pull out of the event in a social media post earlier today, writing: “MORBID ANGEL will no longer be performing at MDF 2022. Despite trying to convince them to not cancel, the only thing we’ve been told is that the band ‘will not be playing MDF or any other shows in the current climate’, so we’ll let you interpret that however you see fit.”

MORBID ANGEL is being replaced at Maryland Deathfest by fellow Florida death metallers DEICIDE who will perform their 1992 album “Legion” in its entirety at the festival.

Other bands who have dropped off this year’s Maryland Deathfest are VALKYRJA, ARCHGOAT, BLAZE OF PERDITION and ANTICHRIST. They are being replaced by IMMOLATION, PROFANATICA, AKHLYS and SULFURIC CAUTERY.

In April 2018, Silver Lining Music released a special two-disc digipack edition of MORBID ANGEL’s latest album, “Kingdoms Disdained”, featuring seven instrumental demo tracks previously only available as part of the deluxe box set.

“Kingdoms Disdained” was released in December 2017 via Silver Lining Music in the U.S. and JVC in Japan. The disc, which reunites founding guitarist Trey Azagthoth with bassist/vocalist Steve Tucker, was recorded at Mana Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida and produced by MORBID ANGEL with Erik Rutan (CANNIBAL CORPSE, HATE ETERNAL, SIX FEET UNDER, BELPHEGOR).

Joining Azagthoth and Tucker during the recording sessions for “Kingdoms Disdained” was drummer Scotty Fuller (ANNIHILATED; formerly of ABYSMAL DAWN)

MORBID ANGEL in January 2017 announced the addition of Dan Vadim Von (guitarist/frontman of the American death metal band VADIMVON) to the band’s lineup on second guitar. He joined the group as the replacement for Norwegian guitarist Destructhor (a.k.a. Thor Anders Myhren), who left the band seven years ago.

MDF 2022 news:

We’re pleased to say that for the first time ever, DEICIDE will be performing the Legion album in its…

Posted by Maryland Deathfest on Thursday, February 10, 2022

KORN guitarist Brian “Head” Welch spoke to Spotlight Report about the current status of the band’s bassist, Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu. Fieldy announced last June that he would sit out KORN’s recent tour in order to “heal” after “falling back” on some of his “bad habits.”

“He is just taking a little time to be with his family,” Welch stated about Arvizu. “He is a great dad. He has so many kids. He has adult kids, teenagers and young kids. He is just taking time, and we are giving him the time. We want everyone to be healthy and happy.

“I guess we will go and tour this record,” Head continued, referencing KORN’s recently released album “Requiem”. “I don’t know a lot more other than that. We love him very much and we hope to communicate with him during the year at some stage, to see where everyone is at.”

Welch previously addressed Fieldy’s position in KORN during a November 2021 interview with U.K.’s Kerrang! magazine. At the time, he stated: “The best thing to do is stay at home, be with your family, and start processing. He’s got to find that healing. I still struggle with it. I had a few slip-ups with my ‘bad habits’ three to four years ago, so I understand it, but I dealt with it by hitting it head-on and stopping it from becoming a problem. I’m not concerned because I know he’s going to be okay.”

KORN singer Jonathan Davis expressed a more worried outlook on Fieldy’s predicament, saying: “I love him; he’s my brother. But I watched somebody I care about die and I’m not going to fucking do that again. I refuse to. I will feel guilt for the rest of my fucking life because of that. I tried my hardest but perhaps if I’d been a little bit tougher there’d have been a different outcome. I pray that he can figure it out and get better and come back and be a huge part of this band again.”

Despite the fact that he didn’t join his KORN bandmates on their recent tour, Fieldy did play on “Requiem”.

Earlier in November, KORN guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer told “Loudwire Nights” host Toni Gonzalez about Fieldy: “Right now he’s just taking some time to kinda figure out what makes him happy and figure out his happiness and what he wants to do with his life, I guess is the best way to put it. And make sure his mental health is at its best, because if your mental health isn’t good, or you’re not clear, you’re gonna make bad choices.

“I make an example,” he continued. “I had my own challenges through the years, and once you get clarity, your life becomes a lot easier to manage. We’re just giving him time to, like, no pressure, just figure out what you want to do because we can still work and we can still go out and tour. But we miss him. We love the guy, and we want him to just be healthy.”

Regarding how KORN ended up recruiting Roberto “Ra” Díaz (SUICIDAL TENDENCIES) to fill in for Fieldy, Welch told 97.9 GRD: “Well, there’s COVID and everything, so when we started talking about it, it was a thing where we wanted to be careful still and whatnot. ‘Cause it was a couple, a few months ago or whatever. So we just started brainstorming and hitting up friends and whatnot. We need the slap — we need the slap bass, we need the finger playing, we need someone, ’cause Fieldy is unique — very unique. So it just kind of happened that way, man, where Ra, he was open because SUICIDAL is not going out until next year. I think Mike Muir has a back surgery or something this year. So it just worked out, man. He came down, we jammed. He’s a really humble guy, and just very talented. He can play anything — from jazz to slap to anything. He played all the songs with, like, three mistakes out of 10 songs or something — little mistakes. I mean, not even mistakes — it was just, like, ‘I thought I heard it that way.’ They weren’t even mistakes. So we were, like, ‘Okay. You got it down.'”

Eight months ago, Fieldy broke the news of his absence from KORN’s summer trek, writing in a social media update: “To all KORN fans worldwide. The past 6 years I’ve been dealing with some personal issues that at times have caused me to fall back on some of my bad habits and has caused some tension with the people around me. It’s been suggested to me to take some time off to heal. I’m going to respect what was asked of me and take that time. Unfortunately you will not see me on stage with my band. I will be working towards getting the bad habits out of my system. In the meantime I will be staying creative to keep my mind & soul in a good place.

“I’m thankful for all of your support, patience & understanding as we all have something that we deal with.

“Jonathan, Munky, Ray and Head, I love you and I don’t want to bring any tension or bad vibes to the circle.”

A short time later, KORN’s official social media shared Fieldy’s statement, along with the following message: “We love and support our brother, Fieldy. Health and family always comes first.”

Back in 2017, METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo’s then-12-year-old son Tye Trujillo filled in on bass for KORN’s South American tour after Fieldy was unable to make the shows due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

Fieldy’s 2009 memoir, “Got The Life: My Journey Of Addiction, Faith, Recovery And Korn”, detailed his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction during KORN’s early years and how he became a born-again Christian to help get his life together and get sober.

Fieldy’s STILLWELL side project released its third album, “Supernatural Miracle”, in September 2020.

“Requiem” was released on February 4 via Loma Vista Recordings.

Legendary progressive rockers YES — consisting of Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood — have released a video for the song “A Living Island”. The clip was created by Wayne Joyner, who has made all of the promotional videos for YES’s latest album, “The Quest”.

Geoff Downes says: “Very excited to announce the release of the video for the track ‘A Living Island’ from ‘The Quest’. It is a combination of a few ideas I had that Jon developed beautifully, and it is a most fitting end track to the album complete with its majestic finale. Also, very proud that I’ve contributed another piece of music that has been added into the prestigious YES canon.”

Much of the music for “The Quest” was “written in late 2019 with the rest in 2020,” says Howe. “We commissioned several orchestrations to augment and enhance the overall sound of these fresh new recordings, hoping that our emphasis on melody, coupled with some expansive instrumental solo breaks, keeps up the momentum for our listeners.”

“The Quest” was recorded across the globe. The sessions took place in the U.K. with Howe, Downes and Davison, while White and Sherwood got together in the studio in the U.S. “Billy Sherwood and myself did all the rhythm sections, bass and drum, in America,” says White, “down in Los Angeles at Uncle Studios, where he works a lot. It helps when you’ve got a good place to work,” Alan laughs, “and Billy’s really good on the recording desk, so we got things down relatively quickly. I spent quite a while studying the music before I went down to L.A. so I was prepared.”

The cover artwork was designed and created by the band’s longtime collaborator Roger Dean.

“The Quest” 2CD digipak track listing:

CD1:

01. The Ice Bridge 7.01
02. Dare To Know 6.00
03. Minus The Man 5.35
04. Leave Well Alone 8.06
05. The Western Edge 4.26
06. Future Memories 5.08
07. Music To My Ears 4.41
08. A Living Island 6.52

CD2:

01. Sister Sleeping Soul 4.51
02. Mystery Tour 3.33
03. Damaged World 5.20

For half a century, YES has been the definitive band of the progressive music genre, the band by which all others are judged. Their groundbreaking albums of the 1970s set the standard for the genre and influenced countless others who followed in their wake.

The current lineup of YES was completed in 2015 when Sherwood replaced founder member Chris Squire, at Squire’s insistence, as he bravely fought a losing battle with leukaemia. Since then, YES has concentrated on touring with their Album Series tours, each featuring a classic YES album in its entirety. During this period, YES has released three live albums, “Topographic Drama – Live Across America” (2017), “Yes Live 50” (2019) and “The Royal Affair Tour: Live In Las Vegas” (2020).

Photo credit: Gottlieb Bros

The original KILLING JOKE lineup has announced the “Lord Of Chaos” EP, marking its first new material in seven years. The effort contains two brand new recordings plus two reworkings of songs from the confrontational U.K. band’s last studio album, 2015’s “Pylon”.

Jaz Coleman states: “I’ve never known anything like the time we are living in now; not since the Cuban Missile crisis but now in comparison we have multiple flash points. ‘Lord Of Chaos’ is about complex systems failure, when technology overloads and A.I. misreads the enemies’ intentions.”

The “Lord Of Chaos” EP will be available on CD, digital, and three vinyl formats.

Watch the video for the title track below.

“Lord Of Chaos” EP track listing:

01. Lord Of Chaos
02. Total
03. Big Buzz (Motorcade Mix)
04. Delete In Dub (Youth’s Disco 45 Dystopian Dub)

Tracks 1 and 2 were produced by KILLING JOKE and mixed by Tom Dalgety and they set the tone for the band’s next studio album, currently being worked on in Prague. Meanwhile, tracks 3 and 4 give a fresh spin to numbers from the “Pylon” album — “Big Buzz” having been remixed by Dalgety and Nick Evans, and “Delete” getting the full dub treatment courtesy of KILLING JOKE’s Youth, who has a longstanding reputation in this area.

KILLING JOKE is very much music as ritual — raw, uncompromising and precisely targeted lyrically; and Coleman, Geordie, Youth and Big Paul, founding fathers of the group and an ongoing influence on both alternative music and (counter) culture in general, show absolutely no signs of mellowing.