ALICE COOPER Are Back With Their Original Line-Up For 2017 UK Tour!

ALICE COOPER, the king of Shock Rock has been doing rounds with the news of his upcoming new album and last month’s one off reunion show. We have some one more massive and exciting news coming your way this time. Now, Alice announces that the three members of the original ALICE COOPER band, bassist Dennis Dunaway, guitarist Michael Bruce and drummer Neal Smith will join him in the UK for a five date autumn tour. 

Last month saw Alice’s performance in Nashville joined by the three original members for a five song mini set, also accompanied by current band members – drummer Glen Sobel, bassist Chuck Garric, and guitarists Nita Strauss and Tommy HenriksenALICE COOPER also announced that his new album, ‘Paranormal‘, will be out on July 28th on earMUSIC, featuring the original members on two songs. Continue reading

Interview With BYZANTINE Vocalist/Guitarist Chris “OJ” Ojeda!

 

On July 28th, Byzantine will release their new album, ‘The Cicada Tree’, via Metal Blade Records. Heralded as the most underrated band from the New Wave of American Heavy Metal Movement, Byzantine has slowly gained a cult-like following after releasing 5 genre-bending albums. 16 years underground, it’s finally time for the world to hear Byzantine! For a first preview of The Cicada Tree, a new video for the single “New Ways to Bear Witness” (featuring a cameo by Skeletonwitch’s Dustin Boltjes, as well as ex-Byzantine drummer Matt Wolfe) has been launched online. Directed/edited by Holly Siders, the filming of “New Ways to Bear Witness”. The band has an upcoming headlining tour as well as a nationwide take over with Sacred Reich starting in September. Continue reading

REVIEW: CELLAR DARLING – “This Is The Sound” [Official Videos]

New born trio CELLAR DARLING is a new found force in the folk rock/metal category already creating major ripples on the scene with their debut masterpiece, ‘This Is The Sound‘. After pulling the plug on their previous band ELUVEITIE almost a year ago, the Swiss trio of Ivo Henzi, Anna Murphy and Merlin Sutter quickly huddled together to form CELLAR DARLING, with a goal of driving themselves in a new direction as they wanted to try out something new and different from what they were already doing. Fast forward a year, and here we are with their debut release titled, ‘This Is The Sound‘, arguably one of the best albums already this year.

Slated for a June 30th, 2017 out via Nuclear Blast Records, let me tell oh boy what a beautiful and enchanting album this has been. I am already in love with the record and this awesome band! Continue reading

Chicago Open Air Spotlight: CROBOT

*Every Tuesday and Thursday from now until Chicago Open Air gets here we will be releasing an article about a band playing the festival to get you familiar with them.*

Today’s artist is Crobot.

On Friday, July 14th, groove rock titans Crobot will be storming onto the Chicago Open Air stage for the first time. The band has played several other Danny Wimmer Presents events including Carolina Rebellion, Rock on the Range, and Louder than Life. I had the chance to see them both times they played the Louder than Life festival and they are something special to watch. The vibe and energy that these guys create at a live show is astounding. The first time I saw them, I was only slightly familiar with the current record at the time (‘Something Supernatural’) when they absolutely blew the doors off of the place. Hitting the stage at around 12:00, Crobot played like they were closing the show. Lead singer Brandon Yeagley is constantly moving on the stage with a 70s-esque persona of a frontman. Bishop is roaring through a pile of incredible riffs while the Figueroa brothers are holding it down on the rhythm section. I’ve always loved discovering new, upcoming talent at these festivals and Crobot was one of the first examples of that for me. Continue reading

MOTOGRATER Unveil Album Art, Tracklist & Release Date For ‘Desolation’!

The last Motograter studio album was released in 2003. That makes it 14 years that fans have been eagerly awaiting a follow up. There is now a release date for Motograter’s highly-anticipated sophomore album ‘Desolation’, produced by Ahrue Luster (Ill Nino/Ex-Machine Head) and mixed by Joshua Wickman (Within the Ruins, KING 810). The album was engineered by Luster, Wickman, and Jon Berrier, and recorded at Illustrious Productions, Dreadcore Productions, and BlackPlate Productions. Mark it on your calendars, August 11th, 2017 EMP Label Group will release ‘Desolation’. Continue reading

EXODUS And OBITUARY To Co-Headline “Battle Of The Bays Tour” With POWER TRIP & DUST BOLT

This is going to be one hell of a punishing sick tour. Powered by Nuclear Blast RecordsRelapse Records, Southern Lord and Napalm Records, Bay Area thrashers EXODUS, death metal legends OBITUARY, POWER TRIP and fellow thrashers DUST BOLT will embark on a month long American voyage across several cities this coming fall. You should definitely not miss this, not at all, consider missing this to be some sort of defamation of the church of heavy metal.

The dates for this tour straight from the depths of hell are out already, with the tickets to go on sale from Friday, June 16th at 10AM (local). Continue reading

State Of The Art: FROM WRATH TO RUINS

  *This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is North Carolina!

Today we will be talking about the downtempo band From Wrath To Ruins. They have been around since the year 2014 and are situated in Greensboro, North Carolina. The band is already ruling their town Greensboro but soon they will rule all over the state including your neighbourhood so watch out! They have created 2 EP’s so far and 2 singles. Their first EP is called ‘The Execution Initiative’ which is self released on the 11th of September 2015. Their second EP ‘As Above, So Below’ got released this year on the 28th of May via their label Chugcore Promotions. {This album is linked at the end of this page} The album ‘The Execution Initiative’ you can find HERE on their Bandcamp. Besides these 2 brutal EP’s they have released the single ”Procreate” that got out about 1 month prior to the release of ‘The Execution Initiative’, click HERE to listen to that song and to also find out more about their roots. They have always self released their music via bandcamp besides the single ”Procreate” and the full album ‘As Above, So Below’. The song ”Procreate” got released on the youtube channel Pig Squeals And Breakdowns, the album ‘As Above, So Below’ with the single ”Masochist” got them signed to Chugcore Promotions which you can find both releases on.

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QUIET RIOT Release First Single From “Road Rage” Feat. New Vocalist James Durbin

Veteran and legendary heavy metal act QUIET RIOT has released a new song, “Freak Flag” from their upcoming new album “Road Rage“, soon to be out on August 4, 2017 via Frontiers Music Srl. This is the first ever track featuring the new vocalist James Durbin, who also happens to be from the 2011 season of American Idol who made news singing hits like “Living After Midnight” and “Breaking The Law” of JUDAS PRIEST. The record was originally meant to be out by spring 2017 and to be sung by former short lived singer Seann Nicols, but after his exit QUIET RIOT decided to re-record with the newly formed line up. Continue reading

Review: SHEIKS OF NEPTUNE ‘Come Drink With The Sheiks’ [Album Stream]

Photo Credit: Chase Stevens @csstevensphoto

Sheiks Of Neptune currently hail from the sinful city of Las Vegas, though there sound is from out of this world. I first got acquainted with the band while in Las Vegas and they were opening for Dead Kennedys. Let me tell you now that Sheiks Of Neptune’s stage performance is nothing short of jaw dropping. With Sheikenstein on vocals, Buzzed Aldrin on guitar, Val 9000 on violin, Cosmo Knotts on drums, Skeeter O’Toole on bass, and Brando Calrissian on ANOTHER guitar, things get wild with the rowdiest drunken space crew you’ll ever have a close encounter with. I know what you are thinking…violin? Val 9000 fits perfectly into this far out fold. I honestly was a little skeptical at first until I heard the chemistry within the band come alive in their music. They have a surf punk kind of sound with and rough and rowdy edge. The band recently released their new album ‘Come Drink With The Sheiks’ on May 12th. It’s 13 jet fueled tracks that rocket you through their sound.

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Into The Grave Spotlight: TEXTURES

Textures is one of the bands that will be playing on Into The Grave this year on the second day, the 12th of August. On that day they will be playing alongside the kings of vikings Amon Amarth and bands like Arch Enemy, Overkill, Life Of Agony, Whitechapel, Sodom, Pro-Pain and metalcore act Ember Falls. As you can see it will be a busy day with a bunch of bands with completely different styles and vibes. Yet I think this day will the best of the 2. It will be the darker and more brutal day of the festival for sure! As I have mentioned before in my spotlight about my all time favorite powermetal band Powerwolf (which you can read HERE) the festival will be super diverse and full of bands with different backgrounds and music styles. Hopefully see you there!

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