“Gods Of Violence”, the brand new album by German thrash titans KREATOR has entered the official German album charts on position #1!
Commented singer, guitarist and main songwriter Mille Petrozza: “Wow! Number one in Germany, what a great day in the history of KREATOR. Words can not describe how we feel about this, so we just want to say thanks to all the fans, who have made this possible. See you on the »Gods Of Violence« tour!”
The band also released the fourth track by track video trailer, which can be seen below:
KREATOR are currently touring through Europe in support of “Gods Of Violence” The band is being supported by label mates SEPULTURA and SOILWORK. See all dates below.
The band recently released the official music video for the song ‘Fallen Brother’. The song features Swiss singer/songwriter Dagobert and pays respect to fallen music icons such as Lemmy, Peter Steele, Prince, David Bowie, Michael Trengert, Bon Scott among others.
NILE‘s main man Karl Sanders has received certificate of Dragon Sen-I Jutsu Black Belt Instructor Grade 3 from the Grand Master, Shihan Denny Shaffer. Dragon Sen-I Jutsu is a mixed material arts form which means dragon spirit fighting and situational street combat.
Karl commented:
“I am humbled , Honored and Grateful. Sincere thanks to Everyone who has helped me along this Most Challenging Path.”
Greek melodic Power metal masters FIREWIND are releasing their much anticipated 8th studio album, ”Immortals”, today via their longtime label Century Media Records.
“Immortals” marks the first time FIREWIND used an outside co-producer, working with Dennis Ward (Unisonic, Pink Cream 69), who not only engineered, mixed and mastered the album, but also co-wrote it together with Gus G. Next to the standard jewel case CD and Digital Download formats, “Immortals” will also be released as LP on 180gr vinyl with a poster as well as the entire album on CD as bonus. Additionally, there is also a limited edition Mediabook CD with expanded booklet, 3 stickers and the bonus track “Vision Of Tomorrow” (5:07).
FIREWIND – “Immortals” (44:38) / Tracklisting:
1. Hands Of Time (04:49)
2. We Defy (03:52)
3. Ode To Leonidas (05:59)
4. Back On The Throne (04:03)
5. Live And Die By The Sword (06:12)
6. Wars Of Ages (04:05)
7. Lady Of 1000 Sorrows (04:42)
8. Immortals (01:57)
9. Warriors And Saints (04:08)
10. Rise From The Ashes (04:30)
In related news, FIREWIND’s Gus G. is currently attending the NAMM convention in California to launch the release of his new Jackson signature guitar.
Also coming out today, FIREWIND’s albums number three, “Forged By Fire” (2005), and four, “Allegiance” (2006), are now available for a first time ever on LP format. Both records come on 180 gr. vinyl and include the full album on CD as bonus.
See FIREWIND returning to the road in support of “Immortals” on the following dates:
FIREWIND – Europe & UK Tour 2017
Special Guests: Manimal & Scar Of The Sun Presented in Germany & Austria by Rock Hard and metal.de 15.02.2017 Glasgow (UK) – Audio 16.02.2017 Manchester (UK) – Academy 3 17.02.2017 Sheffield (UK) – Corporation 18.02.2017 Wolverhampton (UK) – Slade Rooms 19.02.2017 London (UK) – Underworld 21.02.2017 Southampton (UK) – Engine Rooms 22.02.2017 Paris (France) – Backstage by the Millsw 24.02.2017 Wetzikon (Switzerland) – Hall Of Fame 25.02.2017 Vienna (Austria) – Szene 26.02.2017 Budapest (Hungary) – A38 27.02.2017 München (Germany) – Feierwerk 28.02.2017 Aschaffenburg (Germany) – Colos-Saal 01.03.2017 Bochum (Germany) – Rockpalast 02.03.2017 Vosselaar (Belgium) – Biebob
FIREWIND – European Festivals 2017: 02.06.2017 Pilsen (Czech Republic) – Metalfest Open Air 16.06.2017 Duisburg (Germany) – Rage Against Racism
13-15.07.2017 Balingen (Germany) – Bang Your Head
09-12.08.2017 Villena (Spain) – Leyendas del Rock 08.09.2017 Olen (Belgium) – Olensfest
GUS G – Live 2016/2017: 20.01.2017 Anaheim, CA (USA) – The Grove (w/ Metal Allegiance, Marty Friedman) 22.03.2017 Tokyo (Japan) – Club Quattro 23.03.2017 Osaka (Japan) – Club Quattro 25.03.2017 Seoul (South Korea) – Vhall
The release of a new album by legendary New Jersey thrashers, OVERKILL, was a good reason to have a chat with the band’s frontman Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth to speak about “The Grinding Wheel” plus more news from the band. Several excerpts of this interview can be read below:
It’s always cool to start the chat about “Chaly” if you are talking with an OVERKILL member or a die hard fan. So after asking how Chaly was today, we started to have a chat about the idea: “When Overkill started we were obviously a cover band, playing stuff we like – everything from Motorhead to NWOBHM to some punk rock. And one of the newcomers on the scene back then that was making the biggest splash, was Iron Maiden and they had Eddie.
We were an unsigned cover band, we said that ‘they have Eddie, we need something like Eddie’. I remember D.D. drawing on a cocktail napkin, it looked like Popeye’s head with two wings on it. It was an awful rendition that actually made it to a few tshirts at the beginning, then we finally had an artist do it… Eddie came first, so I would think Eddie would be the father.”
If “The Grinding Wheel” is not their best album then it is definitely one of the band’s top three. It is one of those albums which I am not getting tired of listening to. OVERKILL‘s thrash style of music mixed with some elements of old school heavy metal, made this album stunning! So I asked Bobby where this came from?
“I think the idea first and foremost that should be understood is that Overkill never forget where we come from. Just even having that talk of Chaly versus Eddie, we understand that we came from a certain era and that era was a combination of things. That era was rock ‘n’ roll, NWOBHM, traditional heavy metal and punk rock. And it became other things over the years – it became groove, it became hardcore, so all these elements were added to it. And I think that what we do, we use the elements where we come from, knowing what we want and putting it through a kind of Overkill machine. So then at the end of the experience or process, it comes out with the Overkill brand.
At the end of the day when the mix is done, it says Overkill and I think that’s always our goal, to put our stamp on our performances.”
OVERKILL is mentioned as the Mötorhead of thrash metal, I agree with that. I asked Bobby how he feels about that and also what influences Mötorhead had on their band?
“You can just look at the name of the band and say that we were influenced greatly by Motorhead. This was a band that we were actually covering, when Chaly started taking shape for us in the early days.
So Motorhead has been there for us as an influence or a love from the beginning. And I can probably say to this day that I’m still a Motorheadbanger. It’s what it was all about for us with one of our favourite bands. So I think that the influence is the rock ‘n’ roll influence that Overkill has, I think thrash is heavy metal with energy, but rock ‘n’ roll is not far away from it. I think it’s one of the characteristics that we’ve carried for many years.”
I changed the subject and brought “The Big Four” into our conversation, asking Bobby how he feels about his band not being classed as one of them and what were the facts behind the forming of The Big Four?
“Who? (laughs) I’m sorry I just like doing that. That’s my answer! First and foremost I think it’s necessary to be concerned with your own house as opposed to what other people do. I think for sure they’re a great complement to the metal community and it shows the power of being able to play the size of venues that they do. They reinvented music on a heavy level by showing that a band out of San Francisco could make this happen at this large scale.
When you talk numbers, numbers make the world go around, numbers put food on your table and numbers put the Big 4 in arenas. For me, it’s not a concern. To even be asked the question from you is quite a compliment, but this is quite simply an accounting issue. He who sells the most gets to be in the Big 4.”
I asked “Blitz” about his favourite singles and albums but he preferred to speak about his favourite singers:
“These are guys that I like for different reasons. I was always a huge fan of Freddie Mercury and probably that record would be Sheer Heart Attack. I think he is the full package with regard to presentation, songwriting and singing talent.
Other singers, let me see, Iggy Pop – but that’s more of a pop approach to things.
I was a big fan of Dee Snider, the reason is that I always thought he did more with less.
Rob Halford – to this day, this many years into it, I have a note that I use, a real high pitched scream. I always think when I’m doing it, if only I could do it as clear as Halford. To some degree he still inspires me this many years later.”
Back to “The Grinding Wheel“, Andy Sneap who seems to be one of the busiest people in this industry, was part of the production personnel on this album. So I asked Bobby‘s opinion on working with him:
“One of the things about Andy – he’s got a state of the art feel to understanding this type of music. I think he works within a template of how he does things. What I like about him is that he thinks out of the bounds, for instance, what I mean is making each band sound like that band. He’s got to give them individuality within that template.”
You can listen to the whole of this interview on the audio player below:
Old school death metallers, MEMORIAM, are set to unleash their debut album, “For The Fallen”, on March 24th, 2017 through Nuclear Blast Records. The album’s impressive artwork was created by Dan Seagrave (BENEDICTION, DISMEMBER, HYPOCRISY, SUFFOCATION,…).
Dan stated on the cover artwork: “Starting from the bands thoughts on visualising a kind of funeral procession with a theme of combat, war and in conjunction with the title »For The Fallen«. As with all my works, I then attempt to make the information evolve in my minds eye, and allow imagination to take over those elements. But retaining the core concept. The painting thus depicts.
A funeral procession moving through a long war torn cityscape. Twisted shards of towers & buildings. A cathedral facade stands defiantly, yet riddled with destruction and decay. At closer inspection the structures all seem to be infected with an element of natural decomposition, as if organically inclined to fade with the demise of the season.
The season itself lost in a timeless void.
The figures appear as remnants of once soldiers, now strange in their gathered mass. Drawn forwards by the drifting momentum of the procession. Unaware of their emaciated state they follow the commander.
The commander’s elongated appearance is tattered and almost creature like, with the combat style elements and gas mask falsely presenting as a costume.
The procession appears almost ghost like, ancient and serene, slowly moving through this eerie place as if forever.
Far in the background there might still be a war happening, but perhaps in another time. As we view a sub level of reality. Lost in the present. Captured in light, where the war had passed through and we are left in a ghost biology. Where chemicals and history meet to create an inescapable surrealism.”
To give a first taster of what to expect from this highly-anticipated record, the first single from “For The Fallen”, ‘Reduced To Zero’, has been launched today.
Vocalist Karl Willetts stated on the track: “‘Reduced To Zero’ is a comment on the times that we live in. In a world that is dominated by fear, hatred and intolerance, the song is a direct result of Brexit and Trump and the general rise of right wing nationalistic xenophobia.”
“For The Fallen” – Tracklisting:
DIGI
01. Memoriam
02. War Rages On
03. Reduced To Zero
04. Corrupted System
05. Flatline
06. Surrounded (By Death)
07. Resistance
08. Last Words
LP
Side A
01. Memoriam
02. War Rages On
03. Reduced To Zero
04. Corrupted System Side B
01. Flatline
02. Surrounded (By Death)
03. Resistance
04. Last Words
In order to further tease the upcoming release of their 8th studio album, ”Immortals”, on January 20th, 2017, melodic Power metal masters FIREWIND are launching a digital single and lyric video (Produced by Cloud Music Typography) for the track “Back On The Throne” today.
FIREWIND’s Gus G. checked in to comment about the track as follows: “”Back On The Throne” is the 3rd single off our forthcoming album “Immortals” and its classic heavy metal roots vibes are shining bright on this one. Crank it up to 11!”
FIREWIND – “Immortals”:
1. Hands Of Time
2. We Defy
3. Ode To Leonidas
4. Back On The Throne
5. Live And Die By The Sword
6. Wars Of Ages
7. Lady Of 1000 Sorrows
8. Immortals
9. Warriors And Saints
10. Rise From The Ashes
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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