After having sold out in record time earlier for this year’s ShipRocked 2017, featuring headliners BREAKING BENJAMIN, ALTERBRIDGE, SEVENDUST, PAPA ROACH and many more which was a hit, ShipRocked is back already with the first batch of headliners added to the list for next year’s line up, i.e. ShipRocked 2018. Set to sail off from Port Canaveral, Florida to Nassau and the private island of Half Moon Cay in The Bahamas, this truly is “The Greatest Vacation On Earth” to every sense of the word.
Known for his groundbreaking musicianship and energetic showmanship, Marzi Montazeri AKA “The High Priest Of Distortion” is a guitarist, producer, and songwriter from Houston, Texas. Currently the guitarist for Heavy As Texas, Marzi has been the man behind the axe for Superjoint Ritual and more recently in 2010, he rejoined with Philip Anselmo to work on Anselmo’s first solo project, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals. In 2015, Montazeri and Washburn Parallax Guitars united to co-design his own signature electric guitar series called “The Priestess”. Montazeri’s collaborations as a guest artist include Prong, Doug Pinnick (Razr 13), Defiatory, and the Judas Priest tribute record ‘Hell Bent Forever’, also featuring the vocalist on this album, Tim “Ripper” Owens. It was through this tribute how he came to know Mr. Owens. “A while ago I was asked to play a couple of solos on the tribute album ‘Hell Bent Forever’ and the track was, “Exciter”” recalls Marzi of first meeting Owens. “When I arrived, Tim was walking out of the vocal booth for the evening. I was blown away by his performance and personality. He’s a super cool and funny dude. So when it came to this EP where I knew I wanted a powerful metal vocalist, I just made a call to him and here we are with some original music.” Tim Owens is a Grammy-nominated American hard rock singer who first gained attention as the vocalist for Judas Priest (1996-2003) and then Iced Earth and Yngwie Malmsteen. Owens currently tours the world as a solo artist and performs as the lead singer of Charred Walls Of The Damned. Also worth noting, the movie Rockstar (featuring Mark Walhberg) was loosely based on Owens’ time in Judas Priest. In 2001, Marzi released his first solo effort ‘The Need’ and after 16 years, he has come back with what could be some of his best solo work yet with ‘The Uprising’. Continue reading
Misery Signals got their start in 2002 and quickly gained notoriety after the release of 2004’s critically acclaimed record ‘Of Malice and the Magnum Heart’; an album which breathed fresh life into the genre with the band’s signature style of aggressive riffs, melodic bridges and atmospheric elements and went on to be one of the most influential metalcore albums of the last decade. Following the departure of vocalist Jesse Zaraska, the band went on to release three more albums, Mirrors (2006), Controller (2008) and Absent Light (2013) with Karl Schubach taking over vocal duties, which were all praised by fans within the metal/hardcore scenes.
Over the last decade influential hardcore band Misery Signals has undergone overwhelming changes involving the departure of their founding singer and infighting that nearly left the band in complete shambles. In a new documentary, directed by Matthew Mixon, titled “Yesterday Was Everything,” the band takes viewers on an intimate journey of reconciliation as they find healing in the present by confronting the demons of their past. The documentary will be available on June 30th at iTunes, Google Play and Amazon. The band will be doing an in-theater screening of the documentary in Edmonton, AB on June 20th (7:00pm at Metro Cinema at the Garneau, 8712 109th Street, Edmonton AB) with partial proceeds being donated to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Continue reading
The NYC prog metal band, Infinite Spectrum, recently kicked off their Theories of Flight north American tour opening for Fates Warning. They’re hitting cities throughout the east coast and midwest, with one show in Ontario, Canada.
Mirrored Image is a 4 piece band based in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky. There isn’t a huge rock scene in the area that is better known for country and bluegrass artists, but Mirrored Image is looking to change that. The Kentuckians boast a true alt rock sound with amazing melodic vocals. The band has a sound that the music world has truly been missing. They have a 90’s alt rock inspired sound but with their own modern twist. Mirrored Image is made up of vocalist and songwriter Dylan Belcher, guitarist and backing vocalist Mark Chaney, drummer Evan Compton and bassist Elijah Purvis. Mirrored Image’s debut album ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ was recorded and mixed by John Chaney and mastered by Drew Thomas at Sage Audio in Nashville, Tennessee. The debut released on April 7th, 2017. Continue reading
Iced Earth first graced the Tampa, FL hard rock/metal scene in 1985 under the name Purgatory, changing their name to Iced Earth in 1988. Formed by original singer Jon Schaffer, the band has experimented with several lineup changes throughout the years and released eleven studio albums, four EP’s, three compilations, three boxed sets, three live albums, and one cover album. Continue reading
Overkill
Thrash metal old gunners from New Jersey, OVERKILL are going to headline ‘Metal Alliance US Tour 2017‘ this coming September. Also joining in the line up is sludge metal band from New Orleans, CROWBAR, fellow thrash metal young guns HAVOK, technical thrash metal band BLACK FAST and the recently formed INVIDIA, comprising of IN THIS MOMENT and Ex-FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH members. The tour will envelope the entire month of September, starting off at The Forge in Joliet, IL on September 8th, 2017 and bringing it to a close at the One Centre Square, Easton, PA on 30th of the same month. Continue reading
Dave Ingram And Jonny Petterson Of Ursinne
It doesn’t get bigger than this. Two death metal legends, who’ve been around for over 20 years actively in the scene, come together to record a jaw-dropping debut under the moniker of URSINNE. Dave Ingram who has been a part of BOLT THROWER, BENEDICTION, HAIL OF BULLETS and more recently ECHELON joins forces with Jonny Pettersson who has been equally active with his death metal bands WOMBBATH, JUST BEFORE DAWN, ASHCLOUD and of late the critically-acclaimed HENRY KANE. Together they churn out the heaviest kind of death metal that is rife with classic appeal and flavour. ‘Swim With The Leviathan‘, their debut and is a lesson in death metal glory that encapsulates everything that makes the genre timeless. Continue reading
M.O.D. are set to release their new album ‘Busted, Broke & American,’ July 7th via Megaforce Records. The band has been around for 31 years (minus one hiatus from 1997 to 2001). This album will become their 8th studio album. It will be the band’s first studio album in ten years, since ‘Red, White & Screwed’ (2007), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in their career. You may also recall founding member and vocalist Billy Milano from Storm Troopers Of Death, which also featured Scott Ian (Anthrax), Dan Lilker (Nuclear Assault), Charlie Benante (Anthrax). The band pioneered the crossover or thrashcore genre mixing hardcore punk and thrash together. Milano has stated the majority of the inspiration to record and write this album came from his beloved dog Buster who was sick with cancer for nearly a year and a half.
With song titles like “You’re a Fucking Dick,” “Busted, Broke & American,” and “All Out of Bubblegum,” you would think that M.O.D. – shorthand for Method of Destruction – and their founder and fearless leader (the Legendary Billy Milano), aren’t masking their intentions on their new album. In fact, it would be a logical assumption that Milano and co. are putting their unabashed and unedited thoughts and feelings out there for all to see and hear with their new album ‘Busted, Broke, and American’ – self-righteous and politically correct social justice warriors be damned! Continue reading
New York, NY, hard rock band, YEAR OF THE LOCUST has good news for fans. They have unveiled tour dates along with fellow rockers, DEVOUR THE DAY and groove metal group, SONS OF TEXAS. Lasting more than a fortnight, the tour begins on June 27th in Monroe, LA at Live Oaks and ends on July 15 Cadott, WI at Rockfest. To get things heated up, YEAR OF THE LOCUST has released a new music video called “Movin’ On“(see below) made from tour footage in 2017 alongside PUDDLE OF MUDD, SAVING ABEL, TANTRIC and SALIVA while traveling across America. Continue reading
