Mark Taylor of MetalTalk.net conducted an interview with guitarist Robby Rockbag of Swedish metallers STEELWING when the band played at the Camden Underworld in London, England on January 20. You can now watch the chat below. Source: Blabbermouth.net
“Full Speed Ahead!” audio stream:
Giorgio Mustica of The Aquarian Weekly recently conducted an interview with drummer Daniel Svensson of Swedish metallers IN FLAMES. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
The Aquarian Weekly: It seems like the band has been coming to America pretty often the past few years. Is there something about coming here that you guys really enjoy?
Daniel: We enjoy playing anywhere, but it’s convenient touring in North America and we have a solid fan base that we’ve been building up since we started. We don’t really mind touring; we can go wherever, basically. As long as there is a scene, we’ll go. The U.S. and Canada have been treating us well, so we’re happy to be back.
The Aquarian Weekly: Your latest album has been received very well from both fans and the press. Have you paid attention to what the reaction is like?
Daniel: Of course. We’re really grateful that people are still supporting us, even though sometimes we experiment a little bit with the music, but our fans are really staying loyal to the band and we’re really happy. But we try not to think too much about what people would think about the album while we’re writing. It’s most important that we can stand behind it and be proud of it. And we’ll never release something that we can’t stand behind. If people like it, that’s a bonus, and they do, so we’re happy.
The Aquarian Weekly: Speaking of experimenting with the music, do you think the bands sound has changed much over the past few years?
Daniel: Yeah, if you compare the first album with the last one, there’s a big change, of course, but it’s been a smooth transition in between every album. And we’re not a band that wants to record the same album twice. We’re not like AC/DC or IRON MAIDEN — they basically sound the same all the time, which, it’s them — but we want to experiment a little bit and work in different ways when it comes to production and everything. We don’t want to stagnate, we want to try new stuff all the time and of course, this album would change with that but it’s not really any drastic change though, I would say.
The Aquarian Weekly: What are your own personal thoughts about the album? Do you listen to it all in your spare time?
Daniel: No, I don’t listen to it. I did before but now when were touring and were playing the songs every night, I try to stay away from the songs when Im not playing them. But I’m really happy with the album and how it turned out. We put in a lot of work on the album, and since we have our own studio back home in Gothenburg, we can really sit and work ’till we’re really satisfied. We don’t have the time pressure that other bands can have when they record because they’re renting time in the studio. But yeah, I can’t be [happier] with the album than I am.
Read the entire interview from The Aquarian Weekly. Source: Blabbermouth.net
In January, Ibanez unveiled an updated version of the ARCH ENEMY bassist Sharlee D’Angelo’s signature SDB bass. Inspired by the company’s Iceman model, the axe features a white flat finish and cosmo black hardware, neck-through construction, a Mono-Rail IV bridge, and comes factory-tuned to drop-C.
The SDB2 is built with a mahogany body, 5-piece maple and bubinga neck, and a rosewood fingerboard with iron cross inlays. It’s outfitted with a pair of Ibanez’s Passive Full Range humbuckers matched with their EQB-IIDX 2-band EQ. The Ibanez SDB2 Bass will be shipping this Spring with a street price of around $899 US.
Go to this location for complete specs. Visit ibanez.com/ for more details.
As previously reported, THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA, the new ‘classic rock’ project with D’Angelo and Björn “Speed” Strid from SOILWORK, has signed with Coroner Records for the worldwide release of its debut album.
The band is currently recording the album which will be released in June.
The Night Flight Orchestra started like so many others as an innocent yet serious drunken idea when Björn Strid and David Andersson (MEAN STREAK, Soilwork session player) were on the road together somewhere in North America in 2007. Björn and David were bonding over what they considered classic or not, from rock n’ roll conspiracies to being arrested in a lobby with nothing but leather pants on.
It didn’t take long before bass player Sharlee D’Angelo joined forces as well as keyboard player Richard Larsson (Von Benzo) and drummer Jonas Källsbäck (Mean Streak).
The goal was to reclaim the ’70’s/early ’80’s sense for classic melody, the forgotten recipe to a timeless song, preferably a song mentioning a city, street name or an exhilarating alcoholic beverage. Anything that will have you spitting out the word classic.
Further details about official release date, tracklist, artwork will be revealed soon.
You can listen to some pre-production songs on Facebook.
Source: Bravewords
“Fallen World”, “the fastest song” ever recorded by British epic power metallers DRAGONFORCE, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below. The track comes off the band’s fifth studio album, “The Power Within”, which will be released in the U.K. on April 16 via the band’s own Electric Generation Recordings, distributed by Essential Music. The ten-track monster, which will be made available in North America on April 17 through Roadrunner, is the band’s first with new singer Marc Hudson in the fold.
DRAGONFORCE guitarist Herman Li recently stated about “The Power Within”, “The last two years have been the most fun we ever had making an album. Through writing, jamming and touring together, we have built this incredible energy and it has been fully captured on the new album.
“This time around we’ve really brought our metal side to the surface and made some of the best music of our career. From the fastest song we’ve ever recorded [‘Fallen World’] to the slower songs, and some things you would never expect from us, this is by far the most diverse DRAGONFORCE album yet.”
Li added, “This is an exciting new era for DRAGONFORCE with Marc joining the band, so we figured this was an ideal time to take full control of our own destiny and establish our own record label for Europe. It’s all hands on deck running it, but a great buzz!”
“The Power Within” track listing:
01. Holding On
02. Fallen World
03. Cry Thunder
04. Give Me The Night
05. Wings of Liberty
06. Seasons
07. Heart Of The Storm
08. Die By The Sword
09. Last Man Stands
10. Seasons (acoustic version)
There will also be a digital and vinyl version featuring bonus tracks “Cry Thunder (Live Rehearsal)”, “Heart of the Storm (Alternative Chorus Version)” and “Avant La Tempête (Instrumental)”, plus an exclusive box set featuring:
* CD Version
* Access Code for Bonus Material plus
* DRAGONFORCE Flag,
* DF Flashlight/Bottle Opener,
* Set of 6 DF Beer Mats featuring band cartoons by bassist Frédéric Leclercq.
DRAGONFORCE will kick off its North American tour at the 14th annual New England Metal & Hardcore Festival on Saturday, April 21 at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts.
“We are really excited to be playing the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival again, especially as it’s the North American launch show for the new album,” said DRAGONFORCE guitarist Sam Totman. “Anyone who hasn’t had a chance to see new singer Marc Hudson in action will witness what a great singer he is! It’s been a long time since we last played the festival and are looking forward to seeing old friends again and giving everyone a great show.”
After entries from thousands of hopefuls across the globe, DRAGONFORCE in March 2011 welcomed Hudson to the band to fill the boots left by ZP Theart, who parted ways with the group in March 2010.
Born in Oxford England, Marc was picked from the thousands of applications via a number of impressive video auditions and live performances, which left the rest of the band in no doubt that they’d found their man. Since the age of 16, Marc has been building his vocal skills gigging with bands in the U.K. underground scene, developing a powerful style with influences which include Bruce Dickinson, Michael Kiske and Sebastian Bach.
Kaaos TV conducted an interview with Li and Hudson during the the Spinefeast At Sea cruise, which which set sail on January 19 aboard the Tallink Baltic Princess from Helsinki, Finland and returned the following day. You can now watch the chat below.
“Fallen World” audio stream:
Source : Blabbermouth.net
According to Ticketmaster.com, former IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Di’Anno will embark on a U.S. tour in July. Backing him once again on the trek will be Pittsburgh traditional metallers ICARUS WITCH. So far the following dates have been announced:
July 26 – B.B. King Blues Club & Grill – New York, NY
July 27 – Showcase Live – Foxboro, MA
Fan-filmed video footage of Di’Anno‘s November 5, 2011 concert in Valencia, Spain can be seen below.
On August 27, 2011, Di’Anno played his first show since serving time in a U.K. prison after he falsely collected U.K. government benefits by claiming he suffered nerve damage to his back that prevented him from working.
After serving his jail term last spring, Di’Anno issued a short statement in which he thanked his fans for their support and claimed that he “managed not to drop the soap” during his stint behind bars.
Di’Anno, 53, was sentenced to nine months for swindling £45,000 (approximately $72,000) in benefits. He was told he would serve at least four and a half months of the sentence behind bars before being released on conditional bail.
D’Anno was reportedly busted when investigators at Department Of Work And Pensions (DWP) received an anonymous tip that he was still singing. They then found videos and pictures on YouTube and the rocker’s own web site of Di’Anno “energetically leaping around on stage, singing to fans around the world.”
Di’Anno completed his first North American tour in early 2010, 17 years after he was deported following a prison term for guns and drug offenses.
“In 1991 I did a couple of stints in jail for guns and drugs,” Di’Anno explained in a 2010 interview. “I was stupid. But after I’d done my stretch they still treated me like a criminal. And I was — but I wasn’t that bad. So I didn’t feel good about America. The government, not the people.
“Prison was tough, but I’m tougher. I was nobody’s bitch, put it that way. You’ve got to do it; otherwise people will walk all over you.”
Source : Blabbermouth.net
According to an online posting by the moderator of the official DOKKEN forum, the band has set “Broken Bones” as the title of its new album. DOKKEN began tracking the effort this past Monday for a late spring/early summer release via Frontiers Records.
The cooperation between Frontiers and DOKKEN started with the European release of the group’s “Lightning Strikes Again” CD in 2007. The album marked a return to DOKKEN‘s signature style with melodic hooklines and blazing guitar riffs that epitomized the band’s sound on such records as “Tooth And Nail”, “Under Lock And Key”, “Back For The Attack” and “Dysfunctional”.
In a November 2011 press release, DOKKEN frontman Don Dokken described the band’s new material as “very uptempo and heavy.” He added, “We know our fans like the classic DOKKEN sound, and this is where our new music is headed. It’s been a band of brothers doing what we love: ‘music.'”
DOKKEN plans to finish the new album recordings by the end of February and go out on the road in June.
“In a perfect world, we would like to release the new album before the summer and then play the festivals in Europe. Then hopefully we can jump on a package tour in the U.S.,” said Don Dokken. “We want to give everyone a great CD that will keep all music fans ‘rokkin” during these troubled times!”
DOKKEN‘s current lineup consists of Don Dokken on lead vocals, Jon Levin on guitar, Sean McNabb on bass and Mick Brown on drums.
DOKKEN‘s greatest-hits package, “Greatest Hits 2” — a collection of all-new versions of tracks such as “Dream Warriors”, “Breaking the Chains” and “Just Got Lucky”, paired two new songs and two covers (including a version of “Lies”, originally recorded by THE KNICKERBOCKERS, available on the Japanese version of the CD only) — was released in Japan on April 21, 2010 via King Records and in the U.S. on Cleopatra‘s Deadline Records imprint.
DOKKEN‘s latest album “Lightning Strikes Again”, was released in the U.S. on May 13, 2008 via Rhino Records. and definite return” to the band’s classic sound, according to a press release.
In addition to the regular European version of “Lightning Strikes Again”, Frontiers released a special limited edition of the CD on April 11, 2008 in a glossy slipcase. The limited-edition version included an exclusive bonus track for Europe, entitled “Sunset Superstar”.
Source: Blabbermouth
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Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 