Hear a new track from post-metal powerhouse Abraham in advance of their new full-length, Débris de Mondes Perdus, set for release February 25.
The post Track Premiere: Abraham – “Blood Moon, New Alliance” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Fan-filmed video footage of Bruce Dickinson belting out a cappella versions of the IRON MAIDEN songs “The Writing Of The Wall” and “Revelations” during his January 29 spoken-word show at Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall in Munhall, Pennsylvania can be seen below.

“The Writing Of The Wall” was the first single from MAIDEN’s latest album, “Senjutsu”, which came out in September. Clocking in at a hefty 82 minutes, it marks MAIDEN’s second consecutive double album behind 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” which is the longest MAIDEN album, with a running time of 92 minutes.

IRON MAIDEN’s first album in six years, “Senjutsu” was recorded in 2019 in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by bassist Steve Harris. It features three tracks whose running time exceeds 10 minutes each.

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.

According to Billboard, “Senjutsu” logged the second-largest week of 2021 for a hard rock album in both equivalent album units earned and in traditional album sales.

“Senjutsu” topped the charts in several European countries upon its release, including in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland.

Chris Caffery, who has been a member of SAVATAGE for more than 30 years, was asked by Pete Pardo of Sea Of Tranquility about the possibility of new music from the cult metal outfit. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I’m trying to figure out which quote I can use that Blabbermouth will throw up there and say, ‘Chris Caffery said…’ It’s funny with that, because I was talking to somebody. I did an interview, I think, in December, and they asked me how I felt about it, and I told them that me and Jon [Oliva, SAVATAGE leader] were writing literally with the idea of SAVATAGE in mind in 2021. And I told them that I definitely felt more optimistic than I had [in the past]. And [on Blabbermouth] they were, like, ‘Chris Caffery’s completely optimistic about SAVA…’ And I’m, like, yes, because in 20 years, the only thing we did was mention the fact that we might do something. This was the first time where… With the re-release of all the records on vinyl, that was the thing that just got us talking and going and saying, ‘All right. Maybe we should do another record.’ Jon had material. I started working on stuff with him; he started working on stuff with Al [Pitrelli, SAVATAGE guitarist]. We have a bunch of pieces to a puzzle now. Whether or not this is going to happen… I’m always the same about it — I would have done 20 records between now and 2002, so you’re not getting anything different out of me as far as how I feel about it. Do I think it’s gonna happen? I don’t know. I kind of consider SAVATAGE to be like Halley’s Comet. [Laughs] It comes once every so often. If you’re not looking, you might miss it.”

Caffery went on to say that he “would love to see” a new SAVATAGE album come to fruition. “And I’ll stay optimistic about it.” However, if it fails to materialize, he won’t take it to heart.

“So many wonderful things happened in my life because of SAVATAGE,” he said. “I’m not gonna get upset… I’ll be disappointed if we never play again, just because I love the band. I’m a fan of it more than I’m a member of it. I love that band and the music.

“I try to tell people even if we did it once maybe as a way to celebrate and travel the world and thank the old fans and let the new fans celebrate with us, which has been a pretty crazy roller-coaster ride [since] the beginning of SAVATAGE; there’s been a lot of losses and a lot of things. I mean, all bands have that with your bandmembers… We had Criss [Oliva, SAVATAGE guitarist] and we had Paul [O’Nelll, SAVATAGE producer] pass, and we went through a lot in the history of this band. But the music has brought so many people together. And I know that there’s no lack of SAVATAGE fans, whether they were fans that had kids or kids that just became fans.

“I stand there with the fans on it,” Chris added. “I’d love to see it happen. As far as [being] a member of the band goes, I’m lined up and ready, and I always am. I would prioritize anything I do for SAVATAGE, so it’s not a question of whether or not I would like to play. I’m just waiting for it to be the right time.

“I’ve always said, you can’t force it, just because it’s something that everybody wants us to do… I think that we all have some really cool music, and if it does happen, it’ll be a fun SAVATAGE album. Like I said, it’ll be a good way to celebrate everything we did.’

Last spring, Jon Oliva told That Metal Interview that he had been working with Caffery and Pitrelli on new SAVATAGE material “over the last couple of years.” Oliva went on to say that he and his SAVATAGE bandmates “would all love” to make a new studio album. “But there’s no deal with a record company to do it,” he explained. “There’s no plan — actual plan — saying we’re gonna start recording SAVATAGE. There’s no plan like that. All we’re doing, as being musicians and songwriters, is we’re compiling new material. So if we do get, ‘Hey, why don’t you guys do this? We’ve got a company that wants to give you guys [a deal], we’re gonna be prepared.

“A lot of the fans, which it makes me upset, because SAVATAGE fans, I love them so much, because they have never, ever turned their backs on SAVATAGE — ever. And I just don’t want to lead them down a road of false shit,” he added. “If something happens where we say, ‘Okay, we’re ready to do this. Let’s do it, guys,’ I will be the first person to make a professional press release to tell everybody. But I just don’t want to, because it’s not solidified in stone right now. Do we wanna do it? You bet your fucking ass we wanna do it. But do we have the material for it? You bet your fucking ass we have enough material for another 10-year run. But all I can say is if we do a SAVATAGE thing, it’s gonna fuck you people up — it’s gonna be fucking blowaway.”

SAVATAGE’s last album release, “Poets And Madmen”, in 2001 was highlighted by Jon Oliva’s return as lead vocalist, replacing Zak Stevens, who left the band citing family reasons, and the departure of Al Pitrelli, who accepted an offer to join MEGADETH in 2000. Pitrelli did record solos for some songs prior to his departure. Another very limited U.S. tour followed, supported by FATES WARNING in the early shows, and then NEVERMORE for the remainder. Around this time, Jon chose Zak’s replacement in the form of Damond Jiniya (DIET OF WORMS). Damond performed Zak’s parts on tour, with Jon having an increased vocal role in proceedings.

Last September, Jon Oliva was arrested on the west central coast of Florida for driving under the influence as well as possession of a controlled substance. Police charged Oliva with possession of cocaine, which is a felony, and DUI, which is a misdemeanor. He has since apparently accepted the plea agreement laid out by the Pasco County prosecutor whereby he will be placed on 18 months of probation and will undergo drug and alcohol evaluation.

Back in 2016, Jon announced on social media that he suffered a stroke in April of that year. At the time, he said: “It was not as serious as it could have been, but it did leave me with some physical recovery challenges often associated with strokes.”

Despite his health issues, Jon said that he didn’t regret the way he had lived his life. He wrote: “I lived the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle since I was 18. It’s all I knew and I enjoyed the ride very much. But there comes a time in everyone’s life where you have to step back and make some life-changing decisions… which I have.”

Shortly after SAVATAGE’s reunion performance at the 2015 Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, Oliva claimed that he felt better than he had in 20 years because he had “stopped drinking and eating” in preparation for the concert. He explained: “It’s my voice that’s freaking me out, because, even when I was in my late 20s, early 30s, doing songs like ’24 Hours Ago’ were always really hard to do. And, of course, I didn’t realize that it was all the drugs and alcohol I was doing. But, after doing that, getting my act together and stuff, singing ’24 Hours Ago’, it’s actually easy now. [Laughs]”

In addition to his work with SAVATAGE, Oliva is well known for co-creating the classical music-meets-prog rock and pyro act TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA alongside the project’s founder Paul O’Neill. Oliva has reportedly remained involved in TSO’s activities even after O’Neill’s April 2017 death of an accidental drug overdose.

Jon’s brother Criss, who was one of the founding members of SAVATAGE, was killed in October 1993 by a drunk driver when he and his wife Dawn were en route to the Livestock festival in Zephyrhills, Florida. The driver of the other car was found to have a drunk driving record of seven prior DUIs and having a blood alcohol content of .294 percent.

South African luthier John Söderlund gives us an up-close look at (and demo of) his innovative acoustic and electric guitar designs.

Alice Cooper kicked off his 2022 U.S. tour last Friday night (January 28) at The Andrew J Brady Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The legendary rocker’s setlist was as follows:

01. Feed My Frankenstein
02. No More Mr. Nice Guy
03. Bed Of Nails
04. Hey Stoopid
05. Fallen In Love
06. Go Man Go
07. Under My Wheels
08. He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)
09. Rock & Roll (THE VELVET UNDERGROUND cover)
10. I’m Eighteen
11. Poison
12. Billion Dollar Babies
13. Roses On White Lace
14. My Stars
15. Devil’s Food
16. Black Widow Jam
17. Steven
18. Dead Babies
19. I Love The Dead
20. Escape
21. Teenage Frankenstein

Encore:

22. School’s Out

Joining Cooper as part of his touring band are guitarists Tommy Henriksen, Ryan Roxie and Nita Strauss; drummer Glen Sobel; and bassist Chuck Garric.

Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen below (courtesy of YouTube user Doug Towne).

Regarding how he chooses the setlist for his concerts, Alice told CityBeat: “It’s the hardest thing in the world. It’s the same for THE WHO or THE ROLLING STONES or anyone who’s been around for 50 years. All of our records are the soundtrack to somebody’s life. I hear a STONES song and go, ‘Oh, I know what car I had.’ But I’m not really thinking, ‘Well, Alice, you’ve been around that long. People will want to hear something from ‘Easy Action’.’ We can’t go that far back, but we do try to find good stage songs that fit this show.

“This show has a storyline in it, so I have to go, ‘What’s a good stage hook?'” he explained. “A song like ‘Generation Landslide’ is a great record, with a great lyric, but we’ve tried it onstage and audiences don’t react to it. They give it a nice polite clap. But a song like ‘Feed My Frankenstein’, that’s a stage song.”

Cooper added: “Out of the 25 songs we do, 18 to 20 of them are must-dos or the audience will get pissed off. If we leave without ‘Under My Wheels’ or ‘Poison’, we’ll get killed. We only have about five we can play with there. We fit in a couple from the new album, and there are theatrical bits where I go, you know, ‘Roses On White Lace’ would be exactly right to get from A to B here,’ so we put that in. But then every e-mail is, ‘I can’t believe you didn’t play…’ I have to go for pleasing 80% of everybody.”

During an appearance on last Thursday’s (January 27) episode of SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Cooper confirmed that he is putting together ideas for the follow-up to last year’s “Detroit Stories” LP. “I’m working on two albums right now, actually — two studio albums,” he said. “And all I can say is that one is written — totally written — and we’ll be doing bed tracks for that one pretty soon. And then the other one is just a touch in the future, but that’s being written right now too. They’re two entirely different kinds of albums, but they’re Alice Cooper pure rock and roll albums. The two albums will really be hard rock albums.”

The 73-year-old singer went on to say that his longtime producer Bob Ezrin will once again be involved with both LPs, the first one of which will arrive later this year.

“It’s kind of like the old days when you’re touring and putting out records at the same time,” Alice explained. “It kind of takes me back to when you’re doing ‘Love It To Death’ and then you tour for ‘Love It To Death’. While you’re doing ‘Love It To Death’, you’re writing ‘Killer’. When ‘Love It To Death’ is over, ‘Killer’ comes out and then you go support that. And while you’re doing ‘Killer’, you’re writing ‘School’s Out’. So we’re kind of piggybacking everything. And I kind of like that. It keeps everything moving. I don’t like those big chunks of time when there’s nothing going on.”

Released in February 2021, “Detroit Stories” was recorded with Ezrin, mostly in Royal Oak with Detroit musicians and featuring a mix of original material alongside covers of songs by Bob Seger, the MC5, Mitch Ryder’s DETROIT and OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY.

In 2018, Cooper issued “A Paranormal Evening At The Olympia Paris”, a recording of his December 7, 2017 concert at the world-renowned Olympia venue in France. The effort captured Cooper and his current bandmates performing a choice selection of classic Cooper hits, in addition to some highlights from 2017’s “Paranormal” album. Alice later said that he wanted to release a document of his band’s onstage prowess because they “deserved a live album.”

USBM staples Krallice release 11th studio album, Crystalline Exhaustion.
The post Listen: Krallice Release Eleventh Full-Length, ‘Crystalline Exhaustion’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

A MetOnTour video edit of METALLICA performing the song “Fixxxer” on December 17, 2021 at Chase Center in San Francisco, California can be seen below. The show was the first of METALLICA’s two 40th-anniversary concerts which featured different setlists. They were part of METALLICA’s “San Francisco Takeover”, a four-day citywide celebration of the band’s 40th anniversary that also included a film festival, photo exhibit and curated lineup of smaller venue shows featuring other acts.

The 40th-anniversary shows marked METALLICA’s return to Chase Center for the first time since the September 2019 “S&M²” concerts that also served as the venue’s grand opening. Those two shows grossed more than $4.1 million over the course of its two nights, according to reports submitted to Pollstar’s Boxoffice, and the band ranked at No. 4 on Pollstar’s worldwide touring chart that same year with a global gross of $175 million.

Formed in 1981 by drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield, METALLICA has become one of the most influential and successful rock bands in history, having sold nearly 120 million albums worldwide and generating more than 2.5 billion streams while playing to millions of fans on literally all seven continents. The band’s several multi-platinum albums include “Kill ‘Em All”, “Ride The Lightning”, “Master Of Puppets”, “… And Justice For All”, “Metallica” (commonly referred to as The Black Album), “Load”, “Reload”, “St. Anger”, “Death Magnetic” and “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct”, released in November 2016 and charting at No. 1 in 32 countries.

METALLICA’s awards and accolades include nine Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, multiple MTV Video Music Awards, and its 2009 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In June of 2018, the band was awarded one of the most prestigious musical honors in the world: Sweden’s Polar Music Prize.

On December 16, San Francisco mayor London Breed presented Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo with a special declaration marking the day as “Metallica Day” in the city.

“When you talk about San Francisco,” Breed said at the news conference, “you talk about cable cars and then you talk about METALLICA.”

AEROSMITH’s previously announced European tour, which was originally scheduled to take place in 2021 and was then postponed until 2022, has now been officially canceled.

The legendary rockers announced the decision to scrap the shows in a statement earlier today. They wrote: “It is with deep regret we must announce that our European Tour, scheduled to take place in June and July 2022, has been cancelled. We have continued to monitor the ongoing COVID situation and with the related uncertainty around travel logistics and the continued presence of COVID restrictions and other issues, it has become clear that it will not be possible to go ahead with our summer shows in the region. The health, safety and well being of our fans is our number one priority. We will be back to rock out with everyone and we hope to have some exciting news to announce soon. Your ticket point of purchase will be in touch shortly with further information. Until then, take care and we deeply apologize for any inconvenience.”

Last June, AEROSMITH guitarist Brad Whitford said that he had “doubts” about the band ever being able to perform live again. The 69-year-old guitarist, who has been a member of AEROSMITH since 1971, painted a bleak picture of the band’s future during an appearance on Joe Bonamassa’s interview series “Live From Nerdville”. He said: “The European tour, they tried to plan one [in 2020], and they’re talking about [2022]. It’s a pipe dream right now. Nothing’s gonna happen for a long time. Sometimes I’m not sure what my partners are thinking when they think that’s gonna happen.”

He continued: “There’s another interesting thing about going to Europe now because of Brexit — it’s so much harder to get work visas because of that. That’s gonna be a whole other nightmare. I mean, I have my doubts about AEROSMITH ever really performing again at this stage, because age is becoming a real factor. And it is what it is.”

Back in 2016, AEROSMITH drummer Joey Kramer admitted in an interview with Rolling Stone that the health issues faced by members of the group — including his heart scare in 2014 and guitarist Joe Perry’s stage collapse — make it harder for them to perform the way they used to.

“It surprised the shit out of me when it happened,” Kramer said of his own health setback. “I exercise every day, I’m conscientious about my health. I thought it was heartburn or indigestion. We’re not 25-year-olds anymore – we can’t play as many shows as we used to. Steven [Tyler] can’t sing two nights in a row or three to four nights a week — it’s physically impossible. So it becomes a question of going out [on tour] less than we used to, or not doing it at all.”

In February 2020, Kramer rejoined his AEROSMITH bandmates on stage during the group’s “Deuces Are Wild” residency in Las Vegas. A month earlier, he sued the rest of AEROSMITH in a bid to perform with them at two Grammy-related events. But a Massachusetts judge eventually ruled against him and the group played without Kramer.

After Kramer injured his shoulder in 2019, his drum tech filled in for a few gigs during AEROSMITH’s residency. Kramer did, however, perform with the rest of AEROSMITH in July of that year at the Twin Cities Summer Jam in Shakopee.

In April 2020, AEROSMITH’s Vegas residency performances scheduled for May and June of that year at the Park Theater were also postponed in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

AEROSMITH launched its Las Vegas residency in April 2019 and had completed several legs of the “Deuces Are Wild” concert production at Park Theater before the latest postponement.

Tyler is the oldest member of AEROSMITH, having turned 73 last March.