Swedish melodic death metal pioneers DARK TRANQUILLITY will release their new album, “Moment”, on November 20 via Century Media. The official music video for the disc’s third single, “The Dark Unbroken”, can be seen below.

The band comments: “Filmed in the heart of Gothenburg with renowned TV/film director Erik Eger (‘Thicker Than Water’, ‘One Hundred Years Of Evil’), ‘The Dark Unbroken’ shows the city as we’ve seen it this year and it reflects our longing to be back on a stage together. Shot in part at the beautiful Stora Teatern that has stood in the center of town since 1859, this serves as a transition to our upcoming streamed live show from the very same stage on the 21st of November. More info on this to follow. Until then, enjoy ‘The Dark Unbroken’!”

“Moment” will be available as a digipak, black LP, silver LP, and CD jewel case.

It’s been four years since DARK TRANQUILLITY’s Swedish Grammis-nominated album “Atoma”. But the time between was creative, innovative, and adventurous. The band welcomed two top-tier guitarists — Christopher Amott (ex-ARCH ENEMY) and Johan Reinholdz (NONEXIST) — while writing a stunning cluster of songs that not only push DARK TRANQUILLITY’s boundaries outward but also strongly typify the Swedes’ sonic fingerprint. Recorded at Nacksving Studios and Rogue Music by Martin Brändström and then mixed/mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios, “Moment” is a riveting yet challenging journey from start to finish.

Founding DARK TRANQUILLITY guitarist Niklas Sundin announced his departure from the band in March, explaining in a statement that he “always enjoyed the creative process more than the performance aspects of being in a band, and the required extensive touring held less and less appeal with every album.”

In early 2017, DARK TRANQUILLITY released a seven-inch single featuring the two songs — “The Absolute” and “Time Out Of Place” — which had previously only been released as bonus tracks of the limited-edition CD version of “Atoma”. These cuts were the most experimental and daring numbers ever from the DARK TRANQUILLITY camp, featuring a very different approach to their usual brand of melodic death metal.

DARK TRANQUILLITY is:

Mikael Stanne – Vocals
Martin Brändström – Electronics
Anders Jivarp – Drums
Johan Reinholdz – Guitars
Christopher Amott – Guitars
Anders Iwers – Bass

German thrash metal veterans SODOM have unleashed a lyric video for “Indoctrination”. The track is taken from the band’s brand-new studio album, “Genesis XIX”, which is due on November 27 via Entertainment One (eOne) in North America and Steamhammer/SPV in Europe.

“Genesis XIX” — recorded by Siggi Bemm and mastered by Patrick W. Engel — comes shrouded in the cover art of Joe Petagno of MOTÖRHEAD fame. The record will be released as a CD digipak, exclusive 2xLP (on translucent orange with opaque silver swirls — an eOne store exclusive), and digitally.

Altenessen, Germany, a northern borough of the city of Essen and a social melting-pot deep in the heart of the Ruhr Area. From the mid-nineteenth century, the region supplied Europe’s industrialization with the required raw materials, mined under back-breaking conditions below ground in coal pits named Carl, Anna, Fritz-Heinrich, Helene and the like. Altenessen is also the musical domicile of Thomas “Angelripper” Such, SODOM’s vocalist/bassist, who has met for some years with his band members in a ratty rehearsal room in that part of Essen to produce tough-as-nails thrash music. To other musicians, such information may be of marginal interest; to Tom it is an important component of his recipe for success.

“I want guys from the Ruhr, who share my background, with whom I can work and rehearse consistently,” explains SODOM’s mastermind, who has implemented his band’s philosophy together with guitarists Frank Blackfire and Yorck Segatz as well as new addition, drummer Toni Merkel. It’s a philosophy that yields more impressive results in 2020 than ever before.

Following the first relaxation of the lockdown rules stemming from the 2020 pandemic, SODOM immediately returned to working creatively, which is one of the reasons why “Genesis XIX” has turned into precisely what the musicians had in mind.

“This is definitely one of the toughest and most diverse studio recordings that SODOM have ever released,” notes Angelripper. “Our riff suppliers, Yorck and Frank, are totally different types of musicians. Yorck is a died-in-the-wool metalhead who grew up with thrash music. Frank, on the other hand, also integrates blues and rock elements into his style, including the occasional Frank Marino or Rory Gallagher quotation, and writes songs that could have featured in the same or a similar way on ‘Agent Orange’. These are the diverse influences that make ‘Genesis XIX’ what it is.”

In addition, there’s a third level that nobody expected after the — as Angelripper expressly emphasises — amicable split with drummer Husky.

“In Toni we’ve gained an awesome drummer,” Angelripper says. “I’d even go so far as to say he’s the best drummer that nobody had on the radar before now.” Especially since Merkel also has, along with his furioso style, a number of other important qualities, namely his stints with death metal act SABIENDAS and a number of other black/death metal bands, where he played drums and doubled as a producer. Thus he’s been a dab hand at studio technology and recording.

“We were largely autonomous during the production of ‘Genesis XIX’ and were free not only to concentrate on working on new songs but also to come up with the right sounds. That was important because we use neither digital amps nor plug-ins but played all the guitar parts using proper Marshall tube amps.” Following the preproduction, SODOM completed the work at the renowned Woodhouse Studio in Hagen, where sound engineer Siggi Bemm recorded Angelripper’s vocals and mixed the album on an analog studio console.

From unadulterated thrash metal tracks “Euthanasia”, “Dehumanized” and “Friendly Fire” to off-the-grid numbers such as “Occult Perpetrator”, SODOM delivers a wide range of facets of their signature sound. This inventiveness also applies to the lyrics on “Genesis XIX”, with Angelripper presenting, as usual, his very own range of subjects: “The Harpooneer” is based on Melville’s “Moby Dick” novel featuring the obsessive Captain Ahab, “Glock N’ Roll” is the story of a serial killer, “Waldo & Pigpen” is an homage to the same-named U.S. fighter pilots, whose radio traffic during their mission in Vietnam has survived, and “Nicht mehr mein Land” describes the condition of western society. (Tom: “We’re the very first to combine real thrash music with German lyrics.”) “Naturally, thrash metal stories need to be martial, but we never intend them to be nasty or disrespectful,” he stresses, explaining his lyrical approach: “I simply sing about things that weigh on my mind.” A thrash metal recipe for success in true SODOM style!

“Genesis XIX” track listing:

01. Blind Superstition (1:02)
02. Sodom & Gomorrah (4:06)
03. Euthanasia (3:54)
04. Genesis XIX (7:09)
05. Nicht Mehr Mein Land (4:29)
06. Glock N’ Roll (5:02)
07. The Harponeer (7:10)
08. Dehumanized (3:53)
09. Occult Perpetrator (4:53)
10. Waldo & Pigpen (6:26)
11. Indoctrination (3:10)
12. Friendly Fire (3:36)

Photo by Moritz “Mumpi” Künster

Rock icon Rob Zombie has announced his seventh studio album, “The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy”, to be released March 12, 2021 via Nuclear Blast. The LP marks his first new album in nearly five years. “The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy” is a classic Zombie album to its core, with high-energy rages like “The Eternal Struggles Of The Howling Man” and “Get Loose” to heavy-groove thumpers like “Shadow Of The Cemetery Man” and “Shake Your Ass-Smoke Your Grass”. The new album is produced by Chris “Zeuss” Harris.

Listen to the first single “The Triumph Of King Freak (A Crypt Of Preservation And Superstition)” below.

Rob Zombie has released an exclusive seven-inch, featuring the new single and B-side, “The Serenity Of Witches”. Order the new single and pre-order “The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy” here.

“The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy” track listing:

01. Expanding The Head Of Zed
02. The Triumph Of King Freak (A Crypt Of Preservation And Superstition)
03. The Ballad Of Sleazy Rider
04. Hovering Over The Dull Earth
05. Shadow Of The Cemetery Man
06. A Brief Static Hum And Then The Radio Blared
07. 18th Century Cannibals, Excitable Morlocks And A One-Way Ticket On The Ghost Train
08. The Eternal Struggles Of The Howling Man
09. The Much Talked Of Metamorphosis
10. The Satanic Rites Of Blacula
11. Shower Of Stones
12. Shake Your Ass-Smoke Your Grass
13. Boom-Boom-Boom
14. What You Gonna Do With That Gun Mama
15. Get Loose
16. The Serenity Of Witches
17. Crow Killer Blues

In September 2019, Rob told NME that his new LP was “the best record” he had ever made. It’s a very big, crazy and complex record that I’m really excited to finally be able to release,” he said.

Asked if this is his favorite of ZOMBIE’s records that he has played on, guitarist John 5 told told Revolver: “Well, this is definitely the most musical — meaning there are a lot of different changes, and it’s very unorthodox how the structure is, you know? I have to be careful because I know people will take a little snippet of what I’m saying. So we’ll go with a very heavy, hooky ROB ZOMBIE record.”

Back in 2018, John 5 compared ROB ZOMBIE’s upcoming album to THE BEATLES’ groundbreaking LP “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, saying that it is “by far the best Zombie record that he’s ever done.” He added: “A lot of people say, ‘Oh, it’s just our greatest record,’ and I don’t say that. Whatever I say is so honest when I’m doing interviews. So I think it’s our best record.”

2016’s “The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser” was the second consecutive effort to feature Zombie and John 5 alongside bassist Piggy D. and drummer Ginger Fish.

Photo credit: Travis Shinn

DEFTONES will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their third album, “White Pony”, by releasing a remix LP called “Black Stallion” on December 11 via Reprise/Warner. The first single from the effort, a remix of “Knife Prty” by Purity Ring, can be streamed below. DEFTONES also enlisted such producers and artists as DJ Shadow, Clams Casino, THE CURE’s Robert Smith, LINKIN PARK’s Mike Shinoda, Squarepusher, Blanck Mass and Salva for “Black Stallion” for reimaginings of other “White Pony” favorites.

“Black Stallion” track listing:

01. Feiticeira (Clams Casino remix)
02. Digital Bath (DJ Shadow remix)
03. Elite (Blanck Mass remix)
04. Rx Queen (Salva remix)
05. Street Carp (Phantogram remix)
06. Teenager (Robert Smith remix)
07. Knife Prty (Purity Ring remix)
08. Korea (Trevor Jackson remix)
09. Passenger (Mike Shinoda remix)
10. Change (In the House of Flies) (Tourist remix)
11. Pink Maggit (Squarepusher remix)

DEFTONES announced their plans for a “White Pony” remix album during a virtual press conference in June. At the time, singer Chino Moreno stated: “We’re going to be releasing later in the year a reissue of [‘White Pony’] and we’re going to do sort of a split side of the record, a remixed version of it titled ‘Black Stallion’. So we have a bunch of different people on it, some that actually inspired some of the writing of the record itself, the original album. So it’s kind of come full circle.”

DJ Frank Delgado revealed that “Black Stallion” was in the works before “White Pony” even saw the light of day.

“We would talk about [‘White Pony’ before it came out], how good it was going to be, and we’d immediately jump to, ‘It’s going to be so good, we’re going to have [DJ] Shadow remix it and we’ll call it ‘Black Stallion’. I think one time we actually hit him up. He was playing here in town and I was opening DJing and me and Chino kind of cornered him.”

“White Pony (20th Anniversary)” is available in three physical formats: 2 CD + digital download; limited-edition deluxe box set (2 double LPs + 2 CDs); and a vinyl box set (2 double LPs).

DEFTONES’ ninth album, “Ohms”, arrived in September.

British rockers BRING ME THE HORIZON have just released their new EP, “Post Human: Survival Horror”, via Columbia Records. The nine-song effort includes the previously released singles “Obey”, “Ludens”, “Parasite Eve” and “Teardrops”, as well as new collaborations with NOVA TWINS, BABYMETAL and EVANESCENCE’s Amy Lee.

Amy can be heard on the closing track, “One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death”, while BABYMETAL appears on “Kingslayer”.

Speaking about how her collaboration with BRING ME THE HORIZON came about, Lee told Revolver: “I don’t really know them personally. We’d just been fans of each other’s music, and you know how music is — you feel like you know that person because the music lives in you. While I’d been very busy working on our album [‘The Bitter Truth’], and getting a little bit stuck on some of the words, they sent me this track to work on, and it was such a beautiful escape and release for me. It felt like something I wasn’t supposed to do, like my secret little side thing, and it really was just so fulfilling to go back and forth, to collaborate, to have all these conversations every day with Oli [frontman Oliver Sykes]. It felt beautiful to finish something. It was the boost and the inspiration to take the EVANESCENCE music with a new satisfaction and fuel, where I’d just been frustrated before.”

“Post Human: Survival Horror” track listing:

01. Dear Diary
02. Parasite Eve
03. Teardrops
04. Obey (feat. Yungblud)
05. Itch For The Cure (When We Will Be Free?)
06. IXI (feat. NOVA TWINS)
07. Kingslayer (feat. BABYMETAL)
08. Ludens
09. One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death (feat. Amy Lee)

This past June, Sykes told Kerrang! magazine about the band’s new music: “Like [2019’s] ‘Amo’ [album] was very collage-y in terms of it spanning from ballads to poppy songs to heavier songs to electro, we wanted this next record to be a mood. As the pandemic unfolded and everything changed, the mood I had in mind started to not feel right. Basically, I had this idea to make some records — I didn’t know how many, but more than one — that all fell under a blanket name of ‘Post Human’. Each record would have its own theme and its own message. The first was going to be about compassion and self-love because I wanted to build up to a record about changing ourselves and changing our future because we need to self-evolve. We can’t just say, ‘We are humans. This is how it is,’ because as humans, we’ve already stepped outside of the food chain by bringing technology into our lives. We need to continue to modify ourselves until we can be proud of what we do on this planet and live harmoniously, not just with ourselves but other creatures. That’s the message I wanted to put out there, but I know the world’s not ready for that on the grand scale. First, we need people to love themselves. There’s too many people out there that hate themselves, and I always think, ‘If you don’t have compassion for yourselves, how’re you going to have compassion for other people?’

“But as the pandemic unfolded, I didn’t think the world was ready for that record. Just like everyone else, I’m pissed off, I’m scared, I’m angry… we need to write a record that embodies that. Before we get to compassion, we need to get out the frustration and anger. This first record’s going to be battle songs, like a recruitment record — songs of anger and hope. It’s not going to offer a solution, it’s going to be more about asking people to come and find a solution with us. This first music is to get you back up, get your blood pumping, get you pissed off and thinking about what’s going on. The record will follow a similar tone of ‘Ludens’ and ‘Parasite Eve’ and that’s going to be the first record of four. We’re going to release four different records over the next year, all under this name ‘Post Human’, and they’ll all be very different. There’ll be a thread, and the lyrical themes will progress as a story, but in terms of the tone, it’ll be quite different.”

BRING ME THE HORIZON spent the last few months writing and recording new music remotely, releasing a series of videos that show how the band has managed to work on the songs during the coronavirus pandemic.

BRING ME THE HORIZON will embark on a five-date U.K. arena tour in September 2021. The dates are as follows:

Sep. 21 – Glasgow, UK @ The SSE Hydro
Sep. 22 – Cardiff, UK @ Motorpoint Arena
Sep. 24 – Sheffield, UK @ FlyDSA Arena
Sep. 25 – Birmingham, UK @ Utilita Arena
Sep. 26 – London, UK @ The O2 Arena

SMASHING PUMPKINS have released the official Linda Strawberry-directed music video for the song “Ramona” from their upcoming double album, “Cyr”. Also available is another new track, “Wyttch”.

“Cyr” will be issued on November 27 via Sumerian Records. The 20-song follow-up to 2018’s “Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.” was produced by singer-songwriter Billy Corgan.

“‘Cyr’ is dystopic folly,” Corgan said in a statement, “one soul against the world sort of stuff, set against a backdrop of shifting loyalties and sped up time. To me it stands as both hopeful and dismissive of what is and isn’t possible with faith.”

“Cyr” track listing:

01. The Colour Of Love
02. Confessions Of A Dopamine Addict
03. Cyr
04. Dulcet In E
05. Wrath
06. Ramona
07. Anno Satana
08. Birch Grove
09. Wyttch
10. Starrcraft
11. Purple Blood
12. Save Your Tears
13. Telegenix
14. Black Forest, Black Hills
15. Adrennalynne
16. Haunted
17. The Hidden Sun
18. Schaudenfreud
19. Tyger, Tyger
20. Minerva

Corgan recently told Apple Music about “Cyr”: “I think this is the music that’s coming out now is the things that have taken root. We’ve gone back to just being ourselves.

“We’re good pop assassins, and I think as long as we’re sort of in that space, we’re good. Anybody can ascribe anything they want to it as far as stylistically, but it bears repeating that what most of the general public knows of the band is really only one small slice of the band’s music. The band’s sort of width was a lot wider. So this falls quite comfortably in the music that we’ve made through the years.”

“Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.” was SMASHING PUMPKINS’ first album in over 18 years to feature founding members Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha, along with longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello has just released a new solo EP, “Comandante”. The five-track affair includes a guest appearance by GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Slash on the song “Interstate 80”, while another cut, “Secretariat”, is a tribute to late VAN HALEN axeman Eddie Van Halen.

“Comandante” track listing:

01. Voodoo Child
02. Interstate 80 (feat. Slash)
03. Secretariat (for Eddie Van Halen)
04. Suburban Guerrilla
05. Cato Stedman & Neptune Frost

“Comandante” is Morello’s first solo release following the July 2020 arrival of the “You Belong To Me” single.

Tom’s latest solo LP, “The Atlas Underground”, came out in 2018.

Genesis recently releases Morello’s photographic memoir, “Whatever It Takes”.

As the cofounder and guitarist of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, AUDIOSLAVE and PROPHETS OF RAGE, and as a solo artist and collaborator with artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen and WU-TANG CLAN, few musicians have been as groundbreaking as Morello. In “Whatever It Takes”, he tells his story through original commentary, handwritten notes, set lists and a wealth of photographs, to make this jam-packed photographic memoir fascinating, honest, and completely unique.

“I’m both blessed and cursed to be a guitar player,” Morello said. “I didn’t choose it, it chose me. The challenge was to find a way to weave my convictions into my music in a meaningful way.”