UK progressive metal quintet THRESHOLD released their highly successful double concept album »Legends Of The Shires« (#13 Germany, #14 Switzerland, #31 Austria etc.) on September 8th, 2017 through Nuclear Blast, followed by extensive touring that included two European runs. Today the band is pleased to announce their »The Legend Continues Tour 2019« in support of the aforementioned record, incl. three shows in North America. All dates can be found below.
»The Legend Continues Tour 2019«
05.04. UK Wakefield – Warehouse23
06.04. UK Chepstow – Winter’s End
22.05. EST Tallinn – Rockclub Tapper
23.05. FIN Helsinki – Tavastia-klubi
24.05. N Hurum – We Låve Rock Festival *SOLD OUT*
25.05. N Hurum – We Låve Rock Festival
03.09. CDN Québec City, QC – Le Bûcher Bar Spectacles
04.09. CDN Montréal, QC – Les Foufounes Électriques
07.09. USA Atlanta, GA – ProgPower USA *SOLD OUT*
11.10. F Toulouse – Ready For Prog Festival
12.10. E Barcelona – Sala Bóveda
13.10. E Madrid – Sala Caracol
The new EP “SIR” from the Turkish metallers PITCH BLACK PROCESS (aka PBP) will be “revealed” on Turkish label 1877 PM(stay tuned for further information)! Friday 15th March, the band unleashed the first song & video “Zahid Bizi Tan Eyleme” (feat. Hayko Cepkin) from the EP, watch it here:
The video was directed by the well-known Turkish movie director, Ender Mihlar!
In “Zahid Bizi Tan Eyleme”, PITCH BLACK PROCESS interpret a poem from the 16th century, of which melody is anonymous. With this significant work by “Muhyî”, their aim is to contribute to bring the culture of this land to the world scene, via building a bridge between east and west. It is a modern but also a folkloric song which blends traditional and authentic instruments with rock/metal elements; it is emotional, touching and sombre, but at the same time it’s moving, encourages individuality and gives a sense of fight and battle.
Just recently the band stated on the EP: “We are pleased to present the cover of our new 4 song EP; “SIR” (“secret” in Turkish). We worked with the mighty Daniel Bergstrand again, who has been an essential and integral part of the band for quite some time, to record and produce “SIR” at Dugout Studios in Sweden.”
PITCH BLACK PROCESS (formerly AFFLICTION) was formed in 1999. Their first two albums “One Reality” (out in May 2003) and “Execution is Necessary” (released in July 2007) got very good response nationwide and also from abroad. In November 2009 they hit the road for their first European tour playing over 20 gigs (beeing the longest tour which any Turkish band had ever made abroad until then), followed up by the 18-shows European tour with WARBRINGER, in February 2010. Before the tour with Warbringer, PITCH BLACK PROCESS signed a sponsorship deal with one of the most well-known guitar companies in the world, PRS, which was another ‘debut’ for Turkey. None of any Turkish bands had signed a sponsorship agreement with such a big brand in music industry. The 3rd album “Hand of God?” was produced by Daniel Bergstrand (In Flames, Meshuggah, Soilwork, etc) at Dugout Studios, came out in June 2013. In September 2013, PITCH BLACK PROCESS played on main stage at the 82nd Izmir International Fair, being the first ever metal band to play on the fair’s history. In 2015, PITCH BLACK PROCESS became part of EVH and Fender. In November 2015 the band returned to Dugout Studios to record their 4th album, “Derin” which was released in December 2016, in Turkey on Atlantis Yapim/EMP Label Group and on Ellefson Music Productions/SPV in Europe. The band’s new EP “SIR” will be revealed via 1877 PM, more information TBA. Watch the video ‘Into the Void / Derinlere’, taken from the album “Derin”: https://youtu.be/8Vys7wiZDOQ
ALPHA OMEGA Management has a huge pleasure to announce that the Swiss Metalcore act FUELED BY FEAR are confirmed, as main support, for the Swedish death metal heroes, IN FLAMES on their tour in St.Petersburg and Moscow! See the shows and details below:
April 23rd – A2 – St.Petersburg
April 25th – Glavclub – Moscow
On February 11th, 2019, FUELED BY FEAR released their new EP, entitled “This Forsaken Place” via Ashburn Records. Furthermore the band is currently shooting a video for “The Devil Will Be Waiting“. EP artwork was done by Azrael Deaign.
“This Forsaken Place” tracklist:
The Devil Will Be Waiting
Born in Hell
This Forsaken Place
In a Shadow Way
Stream “The Devil Will Be Waiting“ here:
FUELED BY FEAR, was formed in late 2011, under the name of “BLOOD BOUND”, featuring members out of formerly well known bands, such as ‘Ex- ortation’, ‘Die by Design’, ‘Framestand’ and ‘Disparaged’. Their debut full length album “Two By Eight” was released on December 16th 2016 by Ashburn Productions. After the album release, the band played a lot of Club shows in Switzerland. The Album hit the Swedish Rock Charts place 5 and entered the Swiss Charts too. The band has toured with SEPULTURA (on their Baltic Tour in March 2012) and IN FLAMES (on their Russian minitour in 2013). FUELED BY FEAR released their new EP “This Forsaken Place” on February 11th 2019 via Ashburn Records.
Guitar Pioneer PAUL GILBERT will release his new album ‘Behold Electric Guitar’ on May 17th via Mascot Label Group / Music Theories Recordings! The album includes 12 new original songs, all with Paul’s most expressive, and inspired guitar playing to date!
Paul comments on Havin’ It: “I finally wrote a song with long guitar solos! It took me decades to stretch beyond my pop song structure habits, and it feels great to be FREE, and just play, and play, and play. The song still has melodies and themes, and those were inspired by the idea that when you have something good… You still want MORE. Havin’ it… don’t make me stop wantin’ it!”
Watch the video for “Havin’ It”, here:
After his recent move to Portland, Oregon, Paul set out to connect with the best and grooviest musicians in the area, and record an album in his brand new hometown. Brian Foxworth (drums) and Asher Fulero (keyboards) were both obvious choices to play Paul’s mix of rock, blues, jazz, and pop flavors. When Paul’s regular Portland bassist Kelly Lemieux was unavailable (due to his touring with Buckcherry), Paul reached out to New Orleans bass legend, Roland Guerin. Roland came to Portland weeks before the recording dates for intense rehearsing and arranging sessions.
With the band complete, Paul enlisted legendary producer and engineer John Cuniberti. John is well known for his work with Joe Satriani, but Paul was primarily interested in John’s expertise with “one mic” recording.
Paul explains, “It’s so easy to make albums with overdubbing and editing these days, but I really prefer playing live and just getting the music to sound right because the musicians, the songs, and the performances are good.”
After hearing Paul’s band, John recommended a few more mics, but still agreed that the music worked best as live performances with no overdubs. “There is not one overdub on the record. Everything you hear is four guys jamming, listening to each other, and making room for each other. The music almost mixes itself that way! And it’s just a great mindset to have. When you know that you won’t be fixing or adding parts later… It keeps your mind very active to get things right!”
Paul will be touring with his band this year to support “Behold Electric Guitar”. Make sure to catch him at the peak of his powers! Behold Electric Guitar!
Paul’s extensive tour schedule will bring him to Europe and the US and the dates can be found here: http://www.paulgilbert.com/tour
“Behold Electric Guitar” Tracklist:
1. Havin’ It
2. I Own A Building
3. Everywhere That Mary Went
4. Love Is The Saddest Thing
5. Sir You Need To Calm Down
6. Let That Battery Die
7. Blues For Rabbit
8. Every Snare Drum
9. A Snake Just Bit My Toe
10. I Love My Lawnmower
11. A Herd Of Turtles
12. Things Can Walk to You
Available Formats:
Standard Black 2LP+MP3
CD digipack
Digital
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke to Solo artist singer Jim Crean (Hair Nation, Appice Brothers) about his new solo albums, his Hair Nation tribute shows and explains the two Vinnie Vincent comeback shows that he was suppose to sing on that were cancelled.
Watch the interview here:
When asked about the success of his tribute band Hair Nation
“I’ve had Hair Nation together for 20 years. So what happened was in 1999 or 98 I was approached to do a show just a one-off Hair Metal show and it went really well and had a great crowd response. The manager then said to me you should do this all the time because I can get you guys working and pretty good money. So basically what we do is we play Hair Metal songs of that era. So we put together some dates and the shows just kept getting bigger and bigger and then we started getting corporate dates and 20 years later here I am. Today we pretty much tour with every hair metal band from that era. ”
When asked about his up two new studio albums
“My new label which is called Visionary Noise records it’s a great new label and they needed some kind of product. So they asked me if they could release my first two albums and I said I don’t really want to do that getting the rights and all that I just didn’t want to go through all that. So I said why don’t we just do a greatest hits album so we did a real limited run, we did 3,000 CDs a really l small pressing and we sold them all out right away. In regards to my new albums I got the best producer in the world, Steve Major out of Toronto you might have heard of him. This guy he’s great I mean he’s worked on like My Big Fat Greek Wedding the movie score and he’s done all my album except my first one. Steve will be producing both my new studio albums and one of the album is gonna be called The London Fog. I have some amazing guest musicians, on the new albums, a lot of big-name, to name a few, Steph Honde (Paul Di’anno), Barend Courbois (Ex-Blind Guardian) Ronnie Robson, Vinny Appice, A.D. ZIMMER (Hair Nation), Robby Lochner (Jack Russell’s Great White), Rik Fox (Steeler, WASP), Chris Holmes (WASP), Frank DiMino (Angel), Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot), Tony Franklin, Carmine Appice, Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot), Ray Tabano (Aerosmith) and many more.”
When asked about the show cancellations with Vinnie Vincent and the set list they were working on
“Carmen Appice played with Vinnie Vincent back in the eighties before he was in Kiss. I think the guys from Kiss, Gene and Paul called Carmine up back then to find out what Vinnie was all about before he got to Kiss gig and they always remained friends over the years. Then this whole thing came up where Vinnie came out of seclusion for 30 years and somehow the agent got a hold of Carmine and asked Carmen if he would like to do a couple shows with them. So then Carmen got Tony Franklin. After they booked shows, one was at Graceland Tennessee but Vinnie cancelled it and so then they had these other two dates booked and they got postponed. Robert Fleischman the initial Vinnie Vincent singer was gonna do the shows but then he decided he didn’t want to do it. So then they were looking for a new singer and so Carmine was out on the road with me and Carmen had mentioned to me . Carmine said I should demo some songs with me signing and send it out to Vinnie. I said okay, so when I got back to New York I sent Vinnie’s agent a couple songs. I never spoken to Vinnie it was all through email, actually I sent an email to Carmine, then Carmine sent to his agent and then to Vinnie. Carmen called me up and he goes yeah I submitted like four different singers to Vinnie and they were big-name guys and Vinnie said out of four or five guys he liked you the best. Then I got a phone call from Derrick Christopher Vinnie’s agent and said he said Vinnie wants to use you for this for these two upcoming shows in Nashville. We then came up with a figure that we needed to make it work and we came up with a tour schedule the whole nine yards and rehearsal schedule. In regards to a setlist it consisted of a lot of Vincent songs and a few Kiss songs. The Kiss songs that were on the set list were Lick it up, Unholy, A million to One and Exciter.”
We demo’d three songs (but it wasn’t Vinnie playing these songs), they came really good. Then they made the announcement with the three of us as Vinnie’s all-star band that Vinnie was going to go out there and shred. Carmen talked to Vinnie in depth about it after that Vinnie decided that he just wanted to make this upcoming shows just a shred show where he just goes out there and just they Jam. So basically Tony and Carmen Appice just kind of keep a beat and Vinnie just plays. I guess a little later he decided that he just didn’t want to do that either. ”
“In all of this I have to say the fans were really excited about the whole thing I got a lot of positive response from the Kiss fan because they’re the biggest and best fans in the world, they’re so loyal they’re awesome. Actually I made a lot of fans and friends over this to be honest with you it was cool and an honor. I did a demo and then somehow, I don’t know who, put it out on the internet, somehow it got released on some Kiss page of me singing one of the songs and The Kiss fans really behind it. it was like wow this is great this guy can really sing it great, so that was cool. All this wasn’t about that for me it was about helping Vinnie get out there and show people that this guy can still rock. Tony and Carmen we’re pretty solid band for him to come out there and but the show was gonna be about Vinnie and that’s how I was gonna present it, this is about a great guitar player .
When asked why Vinnie Vincent backout out of the two shows
“I can’t speak on Vinnie Vincent’s behalf, I never met him but I have my ideas and I have my suspicions and so does Carmine and in Tony. There’s a lot of heavy shredding that went into Vinnie’s songs, when I sat down learning those songs I dissected every part of these songs even with the guitar. I would sit down and work out to make sure that everything’s gonna be super tight and we’re gonna come out and really do a great job for him. When Vinnie did that Kiss cruise and I seen some video footage of that and he didn’t really didn’t really play any leads or anything like that he just kind of came out and he looked a little nervous, like he was kind of unsure. Tony, Carmine and I have never taken a break from the music scene, we’ve been doing it years we’ve all been doing this for a very long time actively consistently touring. Derrick Christopher Vinnie’s agent said to me I think Vinnie’s gonna be a little standoffish at first but then once he sees and he hears you guys and you guys get in the same room together he is gonna be so into it. I think that would have happened I really think that Vinnie would have came out and it would have really been a good good career move for him but I do think that maybe he had a little doubt. Sometimes when you write songs thirty years ago and you make them so difficult to play you don’t think of what’s gonna happen in 30 years from now. I think maybe he just was a little worried. I just want to make it clear that me Tony and Carmine we’re gonna come out and really be super tight and deliver it for Vinnie. I know there was some rumors floating around that we couldn’t make the practice, there was gonna be no practice, no rehearsal that’s not true. We spent a lot of time talking back and forth to how the songs the keys arrangements and I spent a lot of time learning those songs to the point where I was very confident that I would have went out and did a very good job for him. Again if Vinnie would have went through with these shows I think it would have been a very good move for him because the fans would have loved it and I think the fans would have really accepted however it sounded. If Vinnie came out and he wasn’t exactly like he was thirty years ago I think the fans would have still accepted him for just coming out on stage, I truly do think that because his fans are very loyal to him and they just want to see him play.”
Less than two weeks before the release of their re-recorded greatest hits album “Nucleus”, Japan’s leading traditional heavy metal band ANTHEM have unveiled a new live-video for the song ‘Cryin Heart’ featuring guest drummer Mad Ohuchi. The track is taken from their 1988 album “Gypsy Ways” and a live version of this album will be available as bonus CD with “Nucleus”(out on March 29th via Nuclear Blast)
You can also pre-order ANTHEM‘s completely re-recorded greatest hits album “Nucleus” now in the formats 2CD and 2LP, via the following link: http://nblast.de/AnthemNucleus
The track list reads as follows: 01. Immortal Bind 02. Black Empire 03. Overload 04. Stranger 05. Linkage 06. Eternal Warrior 07. Ghost In The Flame 08. Venom Strike 09. Awake 10. Omega Man (Instrumental) 11. Pain 12. Echoes In The Dark 13. Unbroken Sign
Bonus Live CD: 01. Gypsy Ways (Win, Lose Or Draw) 02. Love In Vain 03. Bad Habits Die Hard 04. Legal Killing 05. Cryin’ Heart 06. Silent Child 07. Midnight Sun 08. Shout It Out! 09. Final Risk 10. Night Stalker
The band also announced their first ever European festival appearance. On April 26th-27th 2019, ANTHEM will play at the Keep It True festival in Germany!
Mixing and mastering of “Nucleus” was done by established producer and engineer Jens Bogren, known for his work with a multitude of big name artists. Jens‘ work is based on elaborate theories and an abundance of knowledge, which has helped guide the careers of many bands, ANTHEM‘s case is no exception. This album which features Jens‘ fat sound with rich low-end is more than up to par with the worldwide heavy metal standard.
A remarkable point worth noting about this release is that all of the songs except ‘Venom Strike’ were written after their reunion in 2001 – proving that ANTHEM have always has been a ‘current band‘ that does not have to rely on their past.
This re-recorded greatest hits, which include a variety of their classics is a monumental effort, perfectly demonstrating the musical quality of ANTHEM and proving that they can be ranked as a top-notch band even in the international market.
