The Beast

ROBERT PLANT & THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS have announced a new set of U.S. tour dates in support of their 2017 album, "Carry Fire". Tickets for all Plant standalone shows are on sale at the singer's official site beginning today. Tour... More

ROBERT PLANT & THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS have announced a new set of U.S. tour dates in support of their 2017 album, "Carry Fire". Tickets for all Plant standalone shows are on sale at the singer's official site beginning today. Tour dates: Sep. 09 - St. Louis, MO @ LouFest Sep. 10 - Kansas City, MO @ Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland Sep. 13 - Santa Fe, NM @ Santa Fe Opera Sep. 15 - Telluride, CO @ Telluride Blues & Brews Festival Sep. 16 - Del Mar, CA @ KAABOO Sep. 19 - Tucson, AZ @ Centennial Hall Sep. 21 - Tulsa, OK @ Brady Theater Sep. 23 - Louisville, KY @ Bourbon & Beyond Festival Sep. 25 - Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at The Toyota Music Factory Sep. 27 - Lubbock, TX @ Lubbock Municipal Auditorium Sep. 29 - Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Live at Moody Theater Robert Plant maintains that the only way to stay relevant to himself, let alone an audience, is to constantly be moving and growing artistically. "I like to dig deep with the people I'm around," he said. "Wherever I might in whatever circumstances; and that's not just based on being a singer — that's based on living a life. I mean, I'm pretty much of a, kind of a, a kind of strange firework, all the way though my life. I'm whizzing around and I don't know which way I'm going to spring next. It really was quite a sobering revelation, really, to find that everything that I left behind was what I really cherish." Released in February on DVD and digital video was ROBERT PLANT & THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS "Live At David Lynch's Festival Of Disruption". The eight-song performance was captured on October 8, 2016 at L.A.'s Ace Hotel Theatre as part of David Lynch's inaugural Festival Of Disruption, which raised money for The David Lynch Foundation. Via Blabbermouth Less

HALESTORM singer Lzzy Hale has told Radio.com that she has been performing intimate cover versions of songs by some of her favorite pop divas during the band's recent concerts. "I started playing Adele's 'Someone Like You', amongst other things,... More

HALESTORM singer Lzzy Hale has told Radio.com that she has been performing intimate cover versions of songs by some of her favorite pop divas during the band's recent concerts. "I started playing Adele's 'Someone Like You', amongst other things, in the middle of our set," she said (see video below). "We have a small section where we'll roll out my piano and I'll do our song 'Dear Daughter', and then I'll throw in some other things; for a while, it was Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always You'." She continued: "It's fun to throw those things out there, because I think that no matter what walk of life you come from, or even the fact that it's at a rock show, we can all agree that Adele's awesome, and so is Whitney Houston. And I love looking at, like, the poster child for metal and masculinity staring at me in the front row and just seeing them sing every word." HALESTORM will release its fourth album, "Vicious", on July 27 via Atlantic. Recorded last year at Nashville, Tennesse's Rock Falcon recording studio with producer Nick Raskulinecz, the disc is available for pre-order at all DSPs and streaming services. Deluxe album packages are available for pre-order exclusively at the band's official webstore, including the new album on standard vinyl, plus a limited-edition opaque purple colored double vinyl with enhanced cover art and bonus tracks, limited to 1500 units worldwide. Also exclusively available at the webstore are a limited edition t-shirt, dog tag necklace, autographed poster, and a free album cover magnet with physical album purchase while supplies last. Raskulinecz is an acclaimed producer who has previously worked with RUSH, KORN, ALICE IN CHAINS and DEFTONES, in addition to having produced HALESTORM's third covers EP, "ReAniMate 3.0: The CoVeRs eP", which came out in January 2017. [jrEmbed module="jrYouTube" youtube_id="HKQYId2kly4"] [jrEmbed module="jrYouTube" youtube_id="PofZAWeX9kQ"] Less

Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER, SONS OF APOLLO, THE WINERY DOGS) spoke to Metal Wani about the recent passing of Vinnie Paul Abbott, saying that "PANTERA was the only band to really carry metal through the '90s." The PANTERA and HELLYEAH drummer... More

Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER, SONS OF APOLLO, THE WINERY DOGS) spoke to Metal Wani about the recent passing of Vinnie Paul Abbott, saying that "PANTERA was the only band to really carry metal through the '90s." The PANTERA and HELLYEAH drummer died on June 22 at his home in Las Vegas at the age of 54. Portnoy said (hear audio below): "Vinnie was a friend of mine for a long time. We became friends right around when [PANTERA] put out 'Cowboys From Hell' and [DREAM THEATER] put out 'Images And Words'. We were both signed to Atco at the same time, so we were dealing with a lot of the same people. And I became good friends with not only Vinnie, but all four of the guys in the band, and, to this day, remain good friends with all of 'em. "When Vinnie came on the scene, in terms of his drumming, I think [PANTERA] were the perfect band that was needed in the metal world around '91, '92, because pretty much the 'Big Four' were kind of knocked out of style by grunge," he continued. "SLAYER, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX, METALLICA and then also TESTAMENT and EXODUS and OVERKILL, all those bands around the early '90s got killed by grunge. So PANTERA was the only band to really carry metal through the '90s. I'd say PANTERA, MACHINE HEAD and SEPULTURA — to me, those were the three that were carrying it through. But PANTERA were the top of those. "And getting back to Vinnie specifically, when I heard 'Cowboys From Hell' and 'Vulgar Display [Of Power]', it was, like, 'Okay, this is fuckin' great metal drumming,'" Portnoy added. "I already was listening to Charlie Benante [ANTHRAX], Dave Lombardo [SLAYER] and Lars Ulrich [METALLICA], but by the early '90s, Vinnie was kind of the next guy in line to carry the torch for the thrash or groove metal movement." During an appearance on Eddie Trunk's SiriusXM show, Portnoy said that "Vinnie was a big part of the production" of the early PANTERA albums. "Him and Dime [PANTERA guitarist 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott] co-produced with Terry [Date]. So he was very into that stuff — they were done at his studios. And he was very into that — it was another thing that he was really good at that you forget about. You just think about the drumming and the partying, but he was also really behind the PANTERA production." Vinnie Paul was buried on June 30 next to his brother and their mother, Carolyn, at Moore Memorial Gardens cemetery in Arlington, Texas. Via MetalWani [jrEmbed module="jrYouTube" youtube_id="rnA1hY3IZ0U"] Less

As the scope of Ghost‘s music and stage production continues to expand, so too does their touring roster. If you haven’t caught the band live in recent months you might not be aware that they have been touring with two ‘Nameless Ghoulettes’... More

As the scope of Ghost‘s music and stage production continues to expand, so too does their touring roster. If you haven’t caught the band live in recent months you might not be aware that they have been touring with two ‘Nameless Ghoulettes’ handling vocals, keys, tambourines and such. Notably it would appear that the band’s first proper ‘Ghoulette’ (reportedly Megan Thomas,) is no longer on bass with a male ‘Nameless Ghoul’ back on the four-string duties during the group’s July 14th performance this past weekend at the annual ‘Dynamo Festival‘ in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Such turnover in the lineup has of course been a constant throughout Ghost‘s career however with numerous musicians having cycled through the band that is helmed by mastermind Tobias Forge (aka Papa Emeritus/Cardinal Copia). [jrEmbed module="jrYouTube" youtube_id="1p2yptymU3Q"] Via thePRP Less

California heavy rockers HIGH ON FIRE have set "Electric Messiah" as the title of their eighth studio album, due in October via Entertainment One. The band has been busy in the studio since February putting the finishing touches on yet another... More

California heavy rockers HIGH ON FIRE have set "Electric Messiah" as the title of their eighth studio album, due in October via Entertainment One. The band has been busy in the studio since February putting the finishing touches on yet another blistering LP. In a brand new interview with DCHeavyMetal.com, HIGH ON FIRE frontman Matt Pike called "Electric Messiah" "the best album we've ever done, by far. It's ridiculous. And I'm really proud of that," he said (hear audio below). "It is by far the best HIGH ON FIRE record ever, which is hard to believe, but it's fucking badass." Asked how many songs will be on HIGH ON FIRE's new disc, Pike said: "I think there's 10 tracks, 11 tracks. It depends, 'cause there's a bunch of songs… Like, I wrote a Sumerian Anunnaki rock opera that actually is two songs, but they're separate tracks. And then there's a lot of 'slash' songs. There's a lot of songs that… you know [how certain bands] will have, like, one song but it makes, like, three songs, if you really think about it? It's kind of a bunch of shit like that, because we've had this constant stream of riffs and we put it together." He continued: "I like, when I do HIGH ON FIRE records, to have a lot of interludes and weird shit going on, so you never lose focus, but it's constantly changing. It's a lot like… [2007's] 'Death Is This Communion' is like that; there's tracks that don't have names, but they're there. It's just one stream of HIGH ON FIRE consciousness, and it's fucking good; that's all. I'm really stoked on that record." Pike also revealed that HIGH ON FIRE will promote "Electric Messiah" by embarking on a U.S. tour with MUNICIPAL WASTE. "We've been kind of beating a dead horse, dead in the water for a while, so we're doing a co-headline [run]," he explained. "The MUNICIPAL WASTE dudes are our good friends, so we figured we'll just punch the country together, swap spots and no one gets tired and all that stuff, and, yeah, it should be good. I wanna get HIGH ON FIRE rolling again, so it's full throttle. We took a lot of time to write this record, really make it good." HIGH ON FIRE again teamed up with producer Kurt Ballou and GodCity Studios where the last two LPs were created. Additional tracking was done by Bryan Sours of Sour Sound. "Electric Messiah" will serve as the highly anticipated follow-up to 2015's "Luminiferous", which garnered its own massive critical acclaim. NPR claimed that it "vividly captures HIGH ON FIRE's unique chemistry, presenting it in a tone that's both warm and aggressive to the point of leaping out at the listener." The AV Club said the LP "aggressively illustrates that HIGH ON FIRE still deserves its place at the top of underground metal's food chain. It's hard to think of another band with this much-staying power." HIGH ON FIRE has been confirmed for the 2018 Psycho Las Vegas festival, set to take place August 17-19 at the famed Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The original version of this article incorrectly stated that "Electric Messiah" would be released in September. A representative for HIGH ON FIRE's record label has confirmed  that the album will arrive in October. Via BLABBERMOUTH.NET [jrEmbed module="jrSoundCloud" id="6729"] Less

Nine Inch Nails release live video showcasing their cover of Gary Numan’s Metal - featuring vocals from Numan himself! It was recorded at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last month – and Numan himself took to the stage... More

Nine Inch Nails release live video showcasing their cover of Gary Numan’s Metal - featuring vocals from Numan himself! It was recorded at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last month – and Numan himself took to the stage to provide the lead vocals on the song that originally appeared on his 1979 album The Pleasure Principle. Numan also appeared with NIN last weekend in Montreux to perform on the track, with Numan posting a selection of pictures from the show, saying: “Thanks to Trent Reznor and the entire Nine Inch Nails team for making us so welcome.” Nine Inch Nails recently released their new album Bad Witch and will head out on the road with The Jesus And Mary Chain on the Cold And Black And Infinite US tour later this year. Numan, meanwhile, is currently on the road across the UK and will return to North America for further live shows later this year in support of his 2017 album Savage (Songs from a Broken World). [jrEmbed module="jrYouTube" youtube_id="jz9-gpeDMO0"] Less

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins was recently asked by CNN if he gets nervous whenever the band releases a new album, to which he replied (via Alternative Nation): “Every time. You always wonder if it’s going to be good. Especially in this... More

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins was recently asked by CNN if he gets nervous whenever the band releases a new album, to which he replied (via Alternative Nation): “Every time. You always wonder if it’s going to be good. Especially in this day and age where the forum for rock music is such an old smelly mare. “We’re not going to seem badass to a 10-year old, we’re like 48-to-50-year-old dudes, and I get that. We’ve sort of become the elder statesmen of rock, at some point. “It’s funny, we get a lot of fan mail: ‘You’re keeping rock alive!’. I’m like, I hope someone else is gonna do that, or else we’re really screwed.” Back in November, Taylor told Fuse about the current state of rock music: “I think there’s good stuff out there, but you really have to go hunt for it. “When I was in high school, Guns N’ Roses were the biggest band in the world, and the biggest thing on the radio. Obviously that’s not the kind of thing that’s happening right now. “I always like to think that there’s a Kurt Cobain somewhere in his parents’ basement, hating his parents, hating the world, getting ready to rewrite rock and roll with a guitar, bass, and a drum set. “Because I love rock and roll, and I like the feel, I know we both do, and our band in general, we like a human feel to music. I feel, no pun intended, that’s kind of missing a lot. “It just so happens right now that hip hop and sort of throwaway pop music, I call it throwaway pop music, my kids wouldn’t, but I do. It just happens to be at the top of the charts for the most part, except for a couple of weeks ago when we had a number one record.” Less

In Revolver's video series "Rise Above," artists open up about the personal and creative adversity they've faced and reveal how they turn such struggles into art. In episode three, Black Label Society leader Zakk Wylde discusses how hard drinking... More

In Revolver's video series "Rise Above," artists open up about the personal and creative adversity they've faced and reveal how they turn such struggles into art. In episode three, Black Label Society leader Zakk Wylde discusses how hard drinking almost took his life and how he found sobriety. See him recount the "animal house" years touring with Ozzy Osbourne and the pivotal moment when his health went downhill and his doctor told him he would die if he didn't make a radical change in his lifestyle — an experience that led the singer/guitarist to abide by a key piece of Ozzy wisdom and find the inner strength to stop drinking. Via Revolver Less