Archives

All posts by Stargazer

CHICKENFOOT Celebrate May Day With Impromptu Rehearsal; Video Available

Posted by Stargazer on May 2, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

CHICKENFOOT, the super group featuring guitarist JOE SATRIANI, drummer Kenny Aronoff, former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony and ex-Van Halen frontman SAMMY HAGAR, conducted an impromptu rehearsal yesterday on May Day (May 1st).

Says the band: “With no advance notice we decided to just jump onto a Google+ Hangout On Air to share a glimpse at whatever was going down at the rehearsal studio while we get ready for the Different Devil 2012 Summer Tour starting Friday and Saturday in Tahoe. The Hangout echo cancellation did some nasty things to the audio so this is a re-upload, but otherwise is unedited raw as-it-happened.”

Chickenfoot’s Different Devil 2012 Summer Tour, in continued support of their newest record, Chickenfoot III, will feature BLACK STONE CHERRY as openers.

Tour dates include:

May
4 – Lake Tahoe, NV – Harrah’s Hotel & Casino
5 – Lake Tahoe, NV – Harrah’s Hotel & Casino
9 – Denver, CO – The Fillmore Aud.
11 – Minneapolis, MN – The Brick
12 – Chicago, IL – Chicago Theater
14 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore
16 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theater
18 – Atlantic City, NJ – House Of Blues
19 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun
21 – New York, NY – Beacon Theater
23 – St. Louis, MO – Fox Theater
25 – Thackerville, OK – Winstar Casino
27 – Pryor, OK – Catch the Fever Festival Grounds (Rocklahoma)
29 – Houston, TX – Bayou Music Center
31 – Tucson, AZ – Anselmo Valencia Amphetheater

June
1 – Las Vegas, NV – The Joint
3 – Portland, OR – Schnitzer Hall
5 – Vancouver, BC – Queen Elizabeth Theater
6 – Seattle, WA – WaMu Theater
10 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theater

 

Source: Bravewords.com

UNISONIC – Tour Dates Announced For Japan, Taiwan And Korea

Posted by Stargazer on May 2, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

UNISONIC – the metal super group featuring Michael Kiske (vocals, ex-HELLOWEEN), Kai Hansen (guitars, GAMMA RAY, ex Helloween), Mandy Meyer (guitars, ex-GOTTHARD, ex-KROKUS), Dennis Ward (bass, PINK CREAM 69) and Kosta Zafiriou (drums, Pink Cream 69) – have announced tour dates for Asia, with shows in Japan, Taiwan and Korea. Their schedule is as follows:

September
6 – Tokyo, Japan – Shibuya Ax
7 – Tokyo, Japan – Shibuya Ax
8 – Osaka, Japan – Grand Cube
10 – Nagoya, Japan – Club Diamond Hall
11 – Hiroshima, Japan – Club Quattro
13 – Taipei, Taiwan – venue tba
15 – Seoul, Korea – V-Hall

Go to this location for ticket links and Unisonic’s complete tour schedule for 2012.

As previously reported, Unisonic have been nominated in three categories for the Metal Hammer Germany Awards. They include:

– Best German Band
– Best Debut Album
– God Of Riffs

Fans are able to vote for Unisonic here. The award ceremony will take place on September 14th in Berlin, Germany. More details will be available soon.

Unisonic will release their self-titled album in North America on May 22nd via Eagle Rock imprint Armoury Records.

See Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen discuss the band in the video interview below:

The new Unisonic album features 11 tracks, plus a bonus live version of Helloween classic ‘I Want Out’ only available on the domestic edition, cover art by Martin Häusler (MEAT LOAF, Gotthard, Helloween, MOTÖRHEAD), and marks the first musical union between Kiske and Hansen in 23 years.

Unisonic tracklisting:

‘Unisonic’
‘Souls Alive’
‘Never too Late’
‘I’ve Tried’
‘Star Rider’
‘Never Change Me
‘Renegade’
‘My Sanctuary’
‘King For A Day’
‘We Rise’
‘No One Ever Sees Me’
‘I Want Out’ (Live)

Unisonic released its debut EP, Ignition earlier this year. After the addition of Hansen to the group’s lineup in early 2011, Unisonic continued the songwriting process for its debut release, incorporating Kai’s talent for writing great anthemic rock songs into its existing material. Hardly Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 3, the Unisonic collective effortlessly fuse the many sides of heavy music they know and love. The band’s music is versatile and takes a broad approach to heavy rock without sacrificing the power and strong, catchy melodies that characterized the band members’ previous projects.

Check out the band’s video for album opener/anthem ‘Unisonic’, directed by Häusler in Heidelberg, Germany, below:

 

Source: Bravewords.com

KREATOR Giving Away New Single For Free

Posted by Stargazer on May 1, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

KREATOR recently released a lyric video for the single and title track of the band’s forthcoming album, Phantom Antichrist. The track is now available for free download. Get it here.

Check out the lyric video below:

The song has also been made available on an exclusive songpier app for your smartphone at Songpier.com.  The single also includes the non-album cover version of the IRON MAIDEN classic ‘The Number Of The Beast’.

Kreator have also shot a video clip for ‘Phantom Antichrist’ – produced by Grupa13 (BEHEMOTH, ELUVEITIE, AMON AMARTH) – which is set to be released May 3rd.

The following formats for Phantom Antichrist will be available:

– Jewel Case CD *
– 2LP Yellow Vinyl *
– 2LP Bi-Coloured Vinyl (Red/Black): limited to 500 copies, hand numbered *+
– 2LP Picture Vinyl **
– CD/DVD Digi Limited Edition: 2 digipacks in a slipcase **

* – Featuring Artwork by Wes Benscoter (DIO, BLACK SABBATH, SLAYER)
** – Featuring Artwork by Jan Meininghaus

Phantom Antichrist was produced at the famous Fascination Street Studio with renowned producer Jens Bogren (OPETH, KATATONIA, SOILWORK, DEVIN TOWNSEND, AMON AMARTH) in Örebro, Sweden.

The tracklist for Phantom Antichrist is as follows:

CD:
‘Mars Mantra’
‘Phantom Antichrist’
‘Death To The World’
‘From Flood Into Fire’
‘Civilisation Collapse’
‘United In Hate’
‘The Few, The Proud, The Broken’
‘Your Heaven In My Hell’
‘Victory Will Come’
‘Until Our Paths Cross Again’
‘Iron Destiny’ (Japan exclusive)

Limited Edition Bonus DVD:

Live At Wacken Open Air 2011:
‘Choir Of The Damned’
‘Hordes Of Chaos’
>War Curse’
‘Coma Of Souls’ / ‘Endless Pain’
‘Pleasure To Kill’
‘Destroy What Destroys You’
‘Phobia’
‘Terrible Certainty’ / ‘Reconquering The Throne’
‘Flag Of Hate’ / ‘Tormentor’

Live At Wacken Open Air 2008:

‘The Patriarch’
‘Violent Revolution’
‘People Of The Lie’
‘Europe After The Rain’

For more details visit Kreator-terrorzone.de.

 

Source: Bravewords.com

SLAYER Guitarist Jeff Hanneman Still In Rehab; Gary Holt To Continue To Fill In

Posted by Stargazer on May 1, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Thrash legends SLAYER have issued the following open letter to fans around the world:

“Slayer fans everywhere – it’s time to let you know what is going on with our brother Jeff Hanneman. As you know, Jeff was bitten by a spider more than a year ago, but what you may not have known was that for a couple of days after he went to the ER, things were touch-and-go. There was talk that he might have to have his arm amputated, and we didn’t know if he was going to pull through at all. He was in a medically-induced coma for a few days and had several operations to remove the dead and dying tissue from his arm. So, understand, he was in really, really bad shape. It’s been about a year since he got out of the hospital, and since then, he had to learn to walk again, he’s had several painful skin grafts, he’s been in rehab doing exercises to regain the strength in his arm; but best of all, he’s been playing guitar. We were all excited when he joined us onstage for the encore a year ago at The Big Four show at Coachella (see photo below).

Since then, we’ve given him all the time and support he’s needed to continue his rehab so he can come back to the band fully recovered and able to deliver the kind of shows we all want him to. While Jeff’s been doing some writing and has been coming to rehearsal over the past several weeks, he has decided he needs to take more time to continue his rehab. While we want him back onstage with the band, all of us support his decision. So, we’re very grateful that Gary Holt (EXODUS) will continue to fill in for Jeff, and will tour with us until Jeff completes his rehab and is ready to return. How long will that be? The best and most honest answer we can give you is ‘as long as it takes.’ We also wanted you to know that we’ve been doing some writing and recording for the next Slayer album – we’ve tracked a few songs, and will finish the album when we’re off the road later this year. Gary will join us on tour in Europe and the UK in May and June, and then we’ll all see you on this Summer’s Mayhem Festival.

Slayer’s tour schedule can be found here.

 

Source: Bravewords.com

MORGOTH – First ever live album / DVD “Cursed To Live” to be released in June!

Posted by Stargazer on April 30, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

German death metallers MORGOTH will release their first ever live album and DVD in June 2012. “Cursed To Live” marks the band’s live documentation of their currently ongoing 20thanniversary celebration of their all-time classic album “Cursed” (released on Century Media Records in 1991). “Cursed To Live” will be released on CD, a limited DVD+2CD as well as a limited deluxe 2LP. The live show featured on the album was recorded at the band’s triumphant show headlining Way Of Darkness Festival 2011, on which MORGOTH performed an extensive set of 15 songs with the main focus on the songs off “Cursed”, among various other death metal classics.

 

The cover artwork – with intentional reminiscence to the original “Cursed” artwork – was designed by the renowned artist Dirk Rudolph (Rammstein, In Extremo, Apocalyptica), who had also created the original artwork for “Cursed”, 21 (!) years ago. The audio of the live recordings was additionally mixed by legendary Death Metal producer Dan Swanö (Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath, etc) to sonic brilliance.

The band has checked in with the following comment about the upcoming release:

“By the end of June we will be finally releasing our career’s first-ever official live DVD / live album “Cursed to Live”. Get ready for the full power of MORGOTH during the 2011/2012 “Cursed” reunion! The package’s main show is a 70 min. live recording of the “Way Of Darkness” festival show that we played on October 7th, 2011 in Lichtenfels, Germany. Next to this main feature, we also added plenty of extra bonus-material for the DVD format (like the early, original promo clips and more recent live footage) and its companion bonus disc (composed of live songs from Rock Hard Festival and Wacken Open Air, both in 2011). There will even be a Gatefold-2LP release of the live album, so this is all sounding and looking really cool…Watch out!”

 

“Cursed To Live” will be released on June 25th, 2012 via Century Media Records and some first samples of the release will be available in the coming weeks.

 

MORGOTH initial “Cursed” album anniversary shows commenced in the summer of 2011 and saw the band playing triumphant sets so far at prestigious festival events like Rock Hard Festival (Germany), Party.San Open Air (Germany) or Hellfest (France). After having most recently already appeared at Winternachtstraum Festival (Germany), Neurotic Deathfest (The Netherlands) and this past weekend’s Walpurgis Metal Dayz Festival (Germany), MORGOTH have already confirmed a string of next shows for 2012, including appearances at Maryland Deathfest (USA), Summer Breeze (Germany), Brutal Assault (Czech Republic) a special clubshow in Greece (together with Exodus, Obituary and Heathen) and also the Barge To Hell cruise in the Caribbean. Here is a list of all upcoming dates:

 

MORGOTH – “Cursed” Anniversary Reunion Live Dates 2012:

27.05.2012 Baltimore (USA) – Sonar / Maryland Deathfest X

09.06.2012 Athens (Greece) – Fuzz Live Music Club + Exodus, Obituary & Heathen

14.07.2012 Ballenstedt / Ostharz (Germany) – Rock Harz Festival

28.07.2012 Steenwijk (The Netherlands) – Stonehenge Festival

10.08.2012 Josefov (Czech Republic) – Brutal Assault Festival

17.08.2012 Dinkelsbühl (Germany) – Summer Breeze Open Air

03.–07.12.2012 Miami, FL (USA) – Nassau, Bahamas / Barge To Hell Cruise

ANGELUS APATRIDA: “The Call” out NOW; How to play “You Are Next” video online!

Posted by Stargazer on April 30, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Spanish Thrash Metallers ANGELUS APATRIDA have released their new studio “The Call” as of today all over Europe via Century Media Records. The album is receiving great vibes at international press and here are some examples:
“On their 4th album, ANGELUS APATRIDA deliver old-school Thrash in a modern sound-package that best appeals to fans of newer Exodus and Testament albums“

ROCK HARD Magazine (Germany), Soundcheck Position May Issue: # 5

“…Just like their previous album, “The Call” also contains extremely old school Thrash that is especially appealing by its melodic quality and also isn’t afraid of presenting nods towards classic metal acts like Maiden and Priest…“

HEAVY Magazine (Ger), 10 of 12 Points

“The strong impression made on “Clockwork” is fortunately being further solidified on the band’s new fourth album. The Bay-Area influenced sound hasn’t lost any of its appeal or intensity…”

LEGACY Magazine (Germany), 13 of 15 Points

“Excellent riffing and solos, catchy vocals and diversity in a pure old school tradition from Spain’s finest metal band”

METALLIAN Magazine (France)

 

“One of the best new coming bands within this genre!”

ROCK TRIBUNE Magazine (Belgium), 82 of 100 Points

 

“Many bands are content copying their favourite bands, but ANGELUS APATRIDA are on a mission to outperform their idols”
CLOSE UP Magazine (Sweden)

 

“ANGELUS APATRIDA approach victory with determination, same as their National football team does in the Championships”
SUE Magazine (Finland), 9 of 10 Points

 

ANGELUS APATRIDA’s Guillermo Izquierdo (Guitars / Vocals) has recorded a video clip explaining riff by riff “how to play” the album’s dynamic opening song “You Are Next”. Check it out here:

ANGELUS APATRIDA have previously launched the album’s first video for the same song “You Are Next”. The entertaining clip can be seen below:

The video for “You Are Next” was produced with directors Sara Cort and Adriana Lorente, who had also worked on the band’s previous video, “Blast Off”, from the album “Clockwork” (which had entered the official sales charts in Spain on #44 and in Greece on #45 upon release in 2010), which can still be seen below:

ANGELUS APATRIDA’s new album has just been finished with the same creative team as their previous release, “Clockwork”: It was again recorded in Moita, Portugal at Ultrasound Studio with producer Daniel Cardoso (Anneke Van Giersbergen, Anathema, etc.) and the striking artwork was handled by Gustavo Sazes / Abstrata (Arch Enemy, Krisiun, etc.). Here is the final track listing of the standard version of the new album:

 

ANGELUS APATRIDA – “The Call”:

1. You Are Next

2. At The Gates Of Hell

3. Violent Dawn

4. It’s Rising!

5. Blood On The Snow

6. Killer Instinct

7. The Hope Is Gone

8. Fresh Pleasure

9. Still Corrupt

10. Reborn

The album’s initial CD pressing will be available in special slipcase packaging and including the two additional bonus tracks “Hell Patrol” (Judas Priest cover) and “Free Your Soul” (A re-recorded track from the band’s “Give ‘Em War” 2007 album) and the album will also be available as LP on 180gr. Black vinyl, but also in limited edition versions of golden colour (Exclusive via CM’s online shop!) and blue colour (Exclusive via NBR mailorder!).