Slashercore outfit ICE NINE KILLS will support METALLICA on February 25 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also on the bill are Michigan rockers GRETA VAN FLEET.

ICE NINE KILLS tweeted earlier today: “Beyond honored to be opening for @Metallica on February 25th at @AllegiantStadm with @GretaVanFleet. We’ll see you Psychos in Vegas.”

Last year, ICE NINE KILLS frontman Spencer Charnas told Metal Hammer magazine that he discovered metal through a friend of his uncle’s, who worked at Elektra Records and introduced him to METALLICA’s music.

ICE NINE KILLS’s latest album, “The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood”, was released in October via Fearless Records.

A sequel of franchise proportions to the No. 1 Billboard Hard Rock album “The Silver Scream”, “The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood” doubles down in pursuit of the anthemic band’s cinematic muse.

Decadent, devious, and fiercely insane, with sardonic wit to spare, ICE NINE KILLS celebrates pop culture’s darkest edges, mining a cinephile library’s worth of b-movie schlock and iconic horror on “Welcome To Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2” and its prequel, “The Silver Scream”.

Beyond honored to be opening for @Metallica on February 25th at @AllegiantStadm with @GretaVanFleet. We’ll see you Psychos in Vegas.. Tickets available at https://t.co/mvIRSRzIoy pic.twitter.com/swr4wYcv3w
— ICE NINE KILLS (@ICENINEKILLS) January 19, 2022

Florida death metal veterans DEICIDE have announced the addition of guitarist Taylor Nordberg (THE ABSENCE, INHUMAN CONDITION) to the group’s ranks. Taylor joins the band as the replacement for Chris Cannella who has amicably left the Glen Benton-fronted outfit after a three-year run.

Earlier today (Wednesday, January 19), Benton said in a statement: “We are pleased to announce and welcome Taylor Nordberg to the DEICIDE family! An amazing and accomplished guitarist who takes our sound to the next level and brings a profound level of professionalism that completes and compliments the DEICIDE machine!”

Cannella said in a separate statement: “Yes, it is true. I am no longer in DEICIDE. There is no drama and we all kept it quiet as to not lead into drama or speculation.

“I have all the love and respect for Glen, Steve and Kevin. I had so many great times over the last three years I cherish for a lifetime, especially the friendship.

“Cheers to all and thanks for all the love and support. I’m excited for what’s to come.”

Cannella joined DEICIDE in 2019 following the departure of guitarist Mark English.

English became a member of DEICIDE in 2016 after the exit of longtime guitarist Jack Owen.

DEICIDE’s latest album, “Overtures Of Blasphemy”, was released in September 2018 via Century Media.

Later this year, DEICIDE will embark on a special tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of their second album, “Legion”. Benton and his bandmates will perform the LP in its entirety, along with other tracks from their vast catalog.

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MWWB (formerly Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard) return with the title track of their upcoming LP of cosmic psychedelic doom, “The Harvest.”
The post Track Premiere: MWWB – “The Harvest” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

KISS has announced a handful of new U.S. shows as part of the band’s ongoing “End Of The Road” tour. The four rescheduled concerts will take place in May after they were postponed last year. All previously purchased tickets and VIP packages will be honored for the new dates.

As previously reported, KISS will also headline this year’s Welcome To Rockville festival on Thursday, May 19 in Daytona Beach, Florida. GUNS N’ ROSES, FOO FIGHTERS and KORN will close out the rest of the four-day event.

2022 U.S. tour dates:

May 11 – Milwaukee, WI – American Family Insurance Amphitheater*
May 12 – Dayton, OH – Wright State University Nutter Center*
May 14 – Hartford, CT – Xfinity Theatre*
May 17 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek*
May 19 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome To Rockville – Daytona International Speedway

KISS launched its farewell trek in January 2019 but was forced to put it on hold in 2020 and part of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“End Of The Road” was originally scheduled to conclude on July 17, 2021 in New York City but has since been extended to at least the end of 2022. The trek was announced in September 2018 following a KISS performance of the band’s classic song “Detroit Rock City” on “America’s Got Talent”.

Last fall, KISS frontman Paul Stanley said that the final concert of the “End Of The Road” tour will likely happen within the next year and a half.

Last October, KISS’s second Las Vegas residency was canceled, with fans who already purchased tickets via Ticketmaster having been notified that the shows were no longer taking place. The cancelation came a day after Rolling Stone magazine published a story in which a group of KISS roadies suggested that the lack of COVID protocols enforced on “End Of The Road” led to the death of a longtime guitar tech, 53-year-old Francis Stueber. Stueber died of coronavirus in his Detroit hotel room on October 17, just two days after being quarantined.

The crew members claimed the tour didn’t take strict enough safety measures, including not testing everyone regularly. In addition, some crew members allegedly disguised their illness and/or faked vaccine cards.

KISS’s current lineup consists of original members Gene Simmons (bass, vocals) and Stanley, alongside later band additions, guitarist Tommy Thayer (since 2002) and drummer Eric Singer (on and off since 1991).

Formed in 1973 by Stanley, Simmons, drummer Peter Criss and lead guitarist Ace Frehley, KISS staged its first “farewell” tour in 2000, the last to feature the group’s original lineup.

According to RUSH fan blog Rush Is A Band, RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson has shared a new video update for his AlexLifeson.com newsletter subscribers. In the 12-minute video, the 68-year-old musician rambles on about a number of random subjects, including his ENVY OF NONE project, his new amp, his cat, getting vaccinated and other stuff.

Regarding his stance on getting the COVID-19 shot, Lifeson said in part: “Get vaccinated… Being vaccinated is a really good thing, and if you’re not, you’re not really doing a good thing at all.”

ENVY OF NONE, in which Alex is joined by Andy Curran (CONEY HATCH), Alfio Annibalini and singer Maiah Wynne, will release its self-titled debut album on April 8 via Kscope.

RUSH drummer Neil Peart died in January 2020 in Santa Monica, California after a three-year battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was 67 years old.

RUSH’s final show took place at the Forum in Los Angeles on August 1, 2015. Peart indicated at the time that he wanted to retire while he was still able to play well, along with a desire to spend more time at home with his young daughter.

Lifeson and bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee have repeatedly said that RUSH will never do a show unless all three musicians agree to take part. They haven’t performed as RUSH without Peart since he joined the band in 1974.

For melodic heavy metal bands with a substantial catalogue, the lure of the acoustic album is hard to resist. SONATA ARCTICA are more suitable candidates than most, thanks in part to the elegant, lyrical way in which frontman Tony Kakko writes songs. As much as the Finns are able to blow people away with nuts-out heavy metal bluster, they have long stood apart from their peers as something else, something more beautiful and more versatile than the power metal standard. As a result, while “Acoustic Adventures – Volume One” is plainly aimed at diehard fans, rather than the casual metal listener, the whole thing makes perfect sense and is performed with such delicate restraint that it is clearly no kind of cynical stopgap.

The opening “The Rest Of The Sun Belongs To Me” is the biggest draw here. Previously released in 2003, as a Japan-only bonus track for the seminal “Winterheart’s Guild”, it’s as romantic and lovable as anything in the SONATA ARCTICA armory and benefits hugely from a wonderfully pretty and imaginative arrangement. The rest are roughly divided between the obvious hits and deeper cuts that presumably lent themselves to these more relaxed readings. “A Little Less Understanding”, “Don’t Say A Word” and “Paid In Full” fulfill the hits brief, and they all sound sufficiently refreshed to justify the conceit. Similarly, “As If The World Wasn’t Ending” may not have jumped out as an obvious highlight from 2009’s “The Days of Grays”, but in this new, mellifluous form, it is transformed into a stunning but sober waltz, replete with bustling analogue keys straight from the prog rock handbook.

The downside to all of this is that SONATA ARCTICA’s schmaltzier tendencies are given free rein in this context, and no amount of Mellotron can save the likes of early ballad “Tallulah” (originally from “Silence”, 2001) from being cheesier than cheese itself. Likewise, “Alone In Heaven” is a pleasant enough song, but the sheer, shiny neatness of its arrangement is more hotel lobby background music than grandstanding emotion-fest. Luckily, “Acoustic Adventures – Volume One” ends in true SONATA style, with the gently unhinged “Wolf & Raven” – which rattles along at a breathless pace, like a drugged-out campfire singalong gone haywire — and “On The Faultline”: a tremulous piece of work, even by Kakko’s wonderfully indulgent standards, but the one truly killer ballad on the record, rendered in shades of grey and sodden with melancholy.

Rabid acolytes will savor every lavish second, which is just as it should be. SONATA ARCTICA remain a unique proposition in an overcrowded marketplace, and while this might be a bigger helping of sugar than most folk could digest, occasional small doses of this slick but eminently likeable detour are recommended.



Joe Satriani is kicking off the new year with a brand-new album. Due on April 8, 2022, “The Elephants Of Mars” marks the legendary guitarist’s 19th studio album in his 35-plus-year career in music. This album also marks the debut of his new label partnership with earMUSIC, the international rock label of entertainment group Edel.

Pre-orders are available now and include a special limited digipack CD release featuring seven double sided cards of original artwork by Satriani representing each song from the album. In addition, several colored vinyl options will be available as well to pre-order including an orange, pink (D2C only) and purple version.

The first single, “Sahara”, debuts today with a video directed by ZZ Satriani.

Satriani had an admirably productive workingman’s holiday, with pandemic forced time away from the road, that ultimately gave him and his touring band, all recording remotely in separate areas of the world during lockdown, the ability to deliver an album length journey that never dulls. “The Elephants Of Mars” crackles with an exciting new energy, briskly traveling through stylistic roads that feel freshly updated, viewed through new eyes.

The guitarist challenged himself to create a “new standard” for instrumental guitar albums to be measured against, one which would work from “a new platform of his own design,” as he terms it. “I want to show people that an instrumental guitar album can contain far more creative and entertaining elements than I think people are using right now.”

From the gripping, sci-fi madness of “Through A Mother’s Day Darkly” to the isolation felt in a decaying urban landscape, as depicted in first single “Sahara” to the general endorphin levels that peak as the elephants finally roar in the title track, “The Elephants Of Mars” will stampede across your mind, leaving a sonic imprint that doesn’t fade.

In 2020 with all time constraints removed, “The Elephants Of Mars” truly represents the album that Satriani himself hoped he could deliver with his band.

“We did everything,” he says. “We tried the craziest ideas. And we entertained every notion we had about turning something backwards, upside down, seeing what could happen.”

With this new album, Satriani joins the eclectic and exciting roster of earMUSIC. General manager Max Vaccaro remarks: “Some years ago, we were lucky to be the label chosen by Joe Satriani for the extremely fortunate CHICKENFOOT project. It was impossible not to notice and admire the dedication, the work ethic, and the monstrous talent in the recording studio and on stage. We knew, though, that he had the same ‘home’ for his solo music for decades and that for him, being signed to a record company meant loyalty and belonging. It is with great joy and sense of responsibility that now, some years later, we welcome Joe for his first solo work with earMUSIC. We thank him for having written and recorded very special music that will make a lot of fans happy, and we like to think this will be the first of many great albums to come.”

“The Elephants Of Mars” track listing:

01. Sahara
02. The Elephants Of Mars
03. Faceless
04. Blue Foot Groovy
05. Tension And Release
06. Sailing The Seas Of Ganymede
07. Doors of Perception
08. E 104th St NYC
09. Pumpin’
10. Dance Of The Spores
11. Night Scene
12. Through A Mother’s Day Darkly
13. 22 Memory Lane
14. Desolation

For over three decades, the guitar virtuoso has travelled the world, playing to sold-out crowds as both a headliner and as founder of the all-star “G3” guitar extravaganza. Satriani’s studio and live recordings have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide to date and of his many solo albums, two have gone platinum and four others went gold, with 15 Grammy nominations between them. His side project CHICKENFOOT, featuring former VAN HALEN frontman Sammy Hagar, former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS drummer Chad Smith, saw their debut album certified gold and their second studio album debuted at No. 9.

ARCH ENEMY and BEHEMOTH will embark on “The North American Siege 2022” tour in the spring. Set to kick off in April, the trek also features U.K. grindcore pioneers NAPALM DEATH and heavy gothic rockers UNTO OTHERS as special guests.

ARCH ENEMY’s Michael Amott (guitar) comments: “I honestly couldn’t be more excited about having ARCH ENEMY join forces with BEHEMOTH, NAPALM DEATH and UNTO OTHERS for a run of dates through North America in 2022! A killer package of quality mayhem right there — can’t fckn wait!”

BEHEMOTH frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski adds: “To say that we are dying to return on the road would be an understatement! In fact, we’ve never been more hungry to reunite with our legions… not only to bring young of the hottest extreme metal touring lineups in a long time but also to bring you NEW BEHEMOTH music! Rejoice!!!”

Tickets go on sale on Friday, January 21 at 10 a.m. local time.

“The North American Siege 2022” tour dates featuring ARCH ENEMY and BEHEMOTH plus special guests NAPALM DEATH, UNTO OTHERS:

April 16 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
April 18 – San Antonio, TX @ The Aztec Theatre
April 19 – Dallas, TX @ Amplified Live
April 21 – St Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
April 22 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
April 23 – Charlotte. NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
April 25 – Toronto, ON @ Rebel
April 26 – Montreal, QC @ Mtelus
April 28 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5
April 29 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia
April 30 – Worcester, MA @ Palladium
May 02 – Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theatre
May 04 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
May 07 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
May 09 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
May 10 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
May 11 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
May 13 – Berkeley, CA @ The UC Theatre
May 15 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Hollywood Palladium