Nuclear Blast Records has announced that Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM back to their roster after having worked with them at the very early stages of their career. A new album is planned for 2013.
The band’s singer and guitarist Alexi Laiho says: “We had a good, productive and long run with Spinefarm records for fifteen years and now it’s simply just time for a change. I’m absolutely stoked to start the new chapter of COB’s career with Nuclear Blast and look forward to work with them.”
Bass player Henkka T. Blacksmith adds: “Personally I am so excited to get to work with Nuclear Blast again. We have such good memories from our beginning of our career with them. We know the people already, and we know how committed they’re in doing metal!”
Commented Jaap Wagemaker, A&R at Nuclear Blast Europe: “Fifteen years ago we were introduced to a very young band from Finland who blew us away with their track ‘Deadnight Warrior’ from their debut album Something Wild and their music was indeed something wild! Fast tapping guitarwork combined with incredible keyboards and angry vocals! It was the start of the career of Children Of Bodom!”
“We released their first three albums outside of Finland: Something Wild, Hatebreeder and Follow the Reaper, albums that became classics in the history of metal! Unfortunately after the third album we went separate ways but we have always been following them and stayed in contact. Children Of Bodom became a very big band worldwide and now the time has come to welcome them back home! We at Nuclear Blast are very happy to see Children Of Bodom rejoining the Nuclear family! We are looking forward to start working on their next albums and you can be sure that ‘something wild’ will come your way!”
ZAKK WYLDE will bring his BLACK LABEL SOCIETY to Canada for a series of 11 shows – as well as a gig in Niagara Falls, NY – this fall. Confirmed dates are as follows:
October
16 – Mile One Centre – Lethbridge, AB
18 – Halifax Forum – Halifax, NS
20 – Métropolis – Montreal, QC
21 – Rapids Theater – Niagara Falls, NY
23 – Guelph Concert Theatre – Guelph, ON
24 – Kool Haus – Toronto, ON
26 – The Community Auditorium – Thunder Bay, ON
27 – Burton Cummings Theatre – Winnipeg, MB
28 – The Odeon Events Centre – Saskatoon, SK
30 – MacEwan Hall – Calgary, AB
31 – Edmonton Event Centre – Edmonton, AB
November
3 – The Vogue Theatre – Vancouver, BC
Prior to embarking on the aforementioned tour, Zakk will film his Unblackened DVD at The Mayan Club in Los Angeles, CA in late August. Wylde revealed exclusively to BraveWords.com that “we’re going to set it up where the first 100 seats will be collectible seats, folding chairs you get to take home with you. With the décor of the theater, it’s going to be killer. We’re going to film rehearsals, so that’s going to be included as well.”
Several guest musicians including SLASH, JERRY CANTRELL and DEREK SHERINIAN are rumored to join Zakk on stage during the taping.
A release date for the Unblackened DVD has not yet been announced.
Metal-Trails.comconducted an interview with Swedish melodic rockers DEAD BY APRIL when the band played at Kaiserkeller in Hamburg, Germany on May 24. You can now watch the chat below.
DEAD BY APRIL‘s second studio album, “Incomparable”, was released in Sweden on September 21, 2011 through Universal Music. Produced by Swedish studio-meister Jacob Hellner (RAMMSTEIN) in his own Big Island Studio in Stockholm, the CD was mixed by fellow RAMMSTEIN regular Stefan Glaumann and features session guitar work from Pontus Hjelm, who left DEAD BY APRIL in 2010 to focus more on the writing and production side; his songs (including “More Than Yesterday”, a demo version of which was included on the compilation mini-album “Stronger”, released via Spinefarm) also feature, providing the all-important continuity with the self-titled debut, a Top 2 outing in Sweden.
Classic Rock Revisited recently conducted an interview with guitarist Alex Lifeson of Canadian rock legends RUSH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
On “Clockwork Angels” marking RUSH‘s return to a concept album:
Lifeson: “We did a number of strictly concept pieces, but a long time ago we decided that we’d run that format through. We moved away from that in the late 1970s. At the same time, all of our records are all thematic and loosely connected; sometimes it is broader and sometimes it is narrower. Nick [Raskulinecz, producer] was really pushing for something like that; not specifically a concept, but a story.”
On the songwriting and recording process for “Clockwork Angels”:
Lifeson: “We spread this one out over a couple of years and it ended up being a very nice way to work. It gave us a bit of breathing space, as we wrote in groups of songs. I think that always helps to get a little bit of variety. When you get into the studio and you record everything together, then it brings that consistency through it. I think we really achieved an interesting dynamic. We have a lot of songs that are different from each other. I think a lot of the songs are very cinematic and part of the story. The first batch we did consisted of five songs that we wrote several years ago. When I think of the songs on the album I think of them in the little groups that we wrote them in.”
On how RUSH in 2012 is different to the band it was in 1976:
Lifeson: “Youth is a very volatile thing. When we were younger we thought differently about our songwriting and our playing. We set a very high standard for ourselves and we always wanted to reach our goals. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves and we worked very fast. We, generally, had very little time to work on our records because we were touring so much. Everything that we ended up doing had this really giant ball of energy attached to it. Today, we feel a very relaxed confidence about our music and our songwriting and also about our playing. We absolutely respect and trust each other now, more than we ever have. I think that is a very important aspect working the way we work and how we put records together. You have to be able to trust each other and not hold your own ideas as the most precious. We all try to do the best work we can do as a band. There is no one person more important than the whole. We’ve learned over forty years that this is the key to our success and our integrity.”
DEEP PURPLE‘s Ian Gillan and BLACK SABBATH‘s Tony Iommi took everybody by surprise in 2011 by releasing a charity single, “Out Of My Mind”, renewing the collaboration that led the pair to record an album in 1984, “Born Again”, under the BLACK SABBATH moniker. For the occasion, the two rock legends called a few friends and were soon joined by Jason Newsted (METALLICA, VOIVOD, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM), Jon Lord (DEEP PURPLE) and Nicko McBrain (IRON MAIDEN). Not only jamming together for the sheer fun of things, this new project has united for a cause — rebuilding and helping the music school in Gyumari, Armenia. The single was a joyful and inspired moment. Iommi and Gillan have now decided to make WHOCARES an album for their devoted fans. Classic songs and a lot of rarities and unreleased material in two CDs of fantastic rare music.
The single was a joyful and inspired moment. The spark to bring Iommi and Gillan in a studio, together again was to finance the rebuilding of a music school in Armenia they had visited together on various occasions in past years.
Far from being a spectacular charity project, WHOCARES was a nice gesture, done with class, from two musicians with nothing to prove, willing to support music, where music is considered a luxury.
“As I said once in the song ‘Razzle Dazzle’ (DEEP PURPLE‘s ‘Bananas’ album), ‘It’s a real fine line between an orgy of destruction and a wonderful time,'” Gillan tells PanArmenian.net about the forthcoming CD. “The destruction of conformity in this case: Some of these pieces never really fitted into their contemporary program and got side-lined or forgotten, and some of the album tracks never had much exposure. As the track listing for this album came together, I noticed many of the titles had character similarities; a combination of freshness as they finally felt the sun on their backs and rebellion in a ‘yeah told you so’ kind of way. And that adds up to a wonderful time. And that adds up to more money for the music school we are building in Armenia.”
“And what about WHOCARES… this ad-hoc benefit band put together by Tony Iommi and myself on a flight home from Yerevan, where we’d been deeply humbled by the honors and expectations bestowed upon us. Well that’s it really, in a nutshell, so to speak, what more can I say; it’s all there in the music.”
Among the tracks set to appear on the upcoming album are the two original WHOCARES songs; DEEP PURPLE‘s unreleased studio jam “Dick Pimple”; a song from REPO DEPO (a band Ian Gillan formed before the DEEP PURPLE reunion which never released any material); two previously unreleased songs from Tony Iommi featuring Glenn Hughes; obscure collaborations, B-sides lost on seven-inch vinyl; and exclusive live versions recorded live on radio.
The album is set for release on July 13 via earMUSIC..
CD1
01. WHOCARES “Out Of My Mind” (fi rst time on an album)
Featuring Jon Lord, Linde Lindström (HIM), Jason Newsted (METALLICA), Nicko McBrain (IRON MAIDEN)
02. BLACK SABBATH “Zero The Hero”
03. Ian Gillan feat. Iommi, Ian Paice and Roger Glover “Trashed”
04. M. Rakintzis feat. Ian Gillan “Get Away” (fi rst release on a Gillan album, only released in Greece before)
05. Tony Iommi feat. Glenn Hughes “Slip Away” (fi rst time on CD)
06. Gillan “Don’t Hold Me Back”
07. Ian Gillan “She Thinks It’s A Crime” (vinyl single B-side, fi rst time on CD)
08. Repo Depo feat. Ian Gillan “Easy Come, Easy Go” (previously unreleased)
09. DEEP PURPLE feat. Ronnie James Dio “Smoke On The Water” (live with the Royal Philaarmonic Orchestra)
CD2
01. WHOCARES “Holy Water” (fi rst time on an album)
Featuring Jon Lord, Linde Lindström (HIM), Jason Newsted (METALLICA), Nicko McBrain (IRON MAIDEN)
02. BLACK SABBATH “Anno Mundi”
03. Tony Iommi feat. Glenn Hughes “Let it Down Easy” (fi rst time on CD)
04. Ian Gillan “Hole in My Vest” (7″ vinyl single B-side, fi rst time on CD)
05. Gillan & Glover feat. Dr. John “Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave me”
06. Ian Gillan & The Javelins “Can I Get A Witness”
07. Garth Rockett & The Moonshiners aka IG “No Laughing in Heaven” (rare track)
08. Ian Gillan “When A Blind Man Cries” (Live at Absolute Radio, previously unreleased)
09. DEEP PURPLE “Dick Pimple”
Audio samples of the tracks that appear on both discs can be streamed below. Source: Blabbermouth.net
British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN kicked off the “Maiden England World Tour” yesterday (Thursday, June 21) at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Charlotte, North Carolina. The trek closely mirrors, in terms of production and content, the original 1988 concert video of the same name, shot on the “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Tour”. This opening section of the world tour is the band’s most extensive visit to North America for many years and includes a number of cities the band have not played in a very long time, such as Atlanta, Buffalo, Indianapolis and Salt Lake City.
The band’s setlist was as follows:
01. Moonchild
02. Can I Play With Madness
03. The Prisoner (performed for first time since September 21, 1991)
04. 2 Minutes To Midnight
05. Afraid To Shoot Strangers (performed for first time since December 12, 1998)
06. The Trooper
07. The Number Of The Beast
08. Phantom Of The Opera
09. Run To The Hills
10. Wasted Years
11. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (performed for first time since December 12, 1988)
12. The Clairvoyant
13. Fear Of The Dark
14. Iron Maiden
Encore:
15. Aces High
16. The Evil That Men Do
17. Running Free
Source: Blabbermouth.net
Chief Shock Video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
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Visionary artist KIMMO KUUSNIEMI's ANCIENT STREAMING ASSEMBLY (ASA) have released “Aurora Nuclearis”, a powerful 12-minute audiovisual experience, dedicated to the Late Keyboardist Esa Kotilainen. - Click image to watch the video
The band’s setlist was as follows:
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Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 