For Canada’s The Metal Voice former Anthrax Singer Neil Turbin spoke to Ex-Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach at the Rock for Ronnie 2025 concert on Sunday, May 18 at Autry Museum in Griffith Park for Ronnie James Dio Stand Up & Shout Cancer Fund. Bach was headlining the fundraiser benefit concert.
Bach talked about Ronnie James Dio, his current album and spoke briefly about Skid Rows other singers When asked who he thought was the best singer (other than himself) Skid Row had in their career he replied,” I would need to hear them sing and I have never listened to any of them ever. Why would I listen to that?
The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund (www.diocancerfund.org) was founded in memory of the legendary singer, who lost his life to gastric cancer in 2010. A privately funded 501(c)(3) public charity, the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund has already raised over $2 million since its inception. Monies raised have been committed to the cancer research work of the T. J. Martell Foundation for Cancer, AIDS and Leukemia Research, the gastric cancer research unit of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where Ronnie was treated for gastric cancer during the last six months of his life, and other cancer research projects. Since 2016, the Dio Cancer Fund has committed funds to support the research of Dr. David Wong and his team at the UCLA School of Dentistry in developing a simple, non-invasive saliva test for the early detection of cancer.
100% of the net proceeds from the ROCK FOR RONNIE will go to the Dio Cancer Fund, which is now in its 15th year of raising awareness and much-needed funding for cancer prevention, education and research for a cure. The organization also hosts the annual Bowl for Ronnie Celebrity Bowling Party in November.
The Metal Voice recently spoke live with Drummer Mark Zonder on Youtube. Zonder talked about the new A-Z that will be coming out June 6, 2025 via Metal Blade.
Also to commemorate the 15 year passing of Ronnie James Dio Zonder also told the story on how Warlord tried to get Ronnie James Dio to sing for the band.
When asked about trying to recruit Ronnie James Dio for Warlord “Warlord was always looking for a singer and you know that we lived in the same town (as Ronnie James Dio) and we had a friend of ours, who was a road guy who lived at Warlord Manor with us who worked for David Lee Roth but in Van Halen and or Dio. We figured out where he (Ronnie James Dio) lived and we showed up at the door. Ronnie was very nice and we left him a tape (of Warlord) and that was that. We apologized profusely (To Ronnie) he wasn’t expecting (us to be at door) and his reaction was basically one of those things like “Oh god someone else at my door.” You know one of those kind. He wasn’t rude, he wasn’t nasty, he wasn’t mean, he didn’t say “Come on in dude let’s have a beer.” We just tried to do as much as we could do and it’s like “Hey why not the worst that can happen is what happened.”
The band known as A-Z began when Zonder started working on material in early 2020 with a clear vision for the band he wanted to put together: “I was thinking beer commercials, car commercials and Cobra Kai. I wanted a very accessible band that would appeal to the masses,” he says. The band’s name—standing for Alder thru Zonder—was an easy choice that would never pigeonhole the lineup’s sound. “What I liked is that it did not limit what someone would think of the band,” says Zonder. “If we named the band Scary Serpent it would give a certain direction and didn’t want people to prejudge us.”
The band members are legendarily prolific, which allows for an amazing dynamic where, as Zonder explains, “when you find the right guys, you just let them do whatever they want. Everybody’s a seasoned pro and all the different ingredients come together, make it what it is.” That live and recording experience allows A-Z’s to instinctively how not to step on each other musically.”
The band known as A-Z began when Zonder started working on material in early 2020 with a clear vision for the band he wanted to put together: “I was thinking beer commercials, car commercials and Cobra Kai. I wanted a very accessible band that would appeal to the masses,” he says. The band’s name—standing for Alder thru Zonder—was an easy choice that would never pigeonhole the lineup’s sound. “What I liked is that it did not limit what someone would think of the band,” says Zonder. “If we named the band Scary Serpent it would give a certain direction and didn’t want people to prejudge us.”
The band members are legendarily prolific, which allows for an amazing dynamic where, as Zonder explains, “when you find the right guys, you just let them do whatever they want. Everybody’s a seasoned pro and all the different ingredients come together, make it what it is.” That live and recording experience allows A-Z’s to instinctively how not to step on each other musically.”
A-Z lineup: Ray Alder – Lead and Backing Vocals Philip Bynoe – Bass Guitar Nick Van Dyk – Guitars Simone Mularoni – Lead Guitars Jimmy Waldo – Keyboards Mark Zonder – Drums
The Metal Voice recently spoke to former Iced Earth and Ashes of Ares Singer Matt Barlow about the bands upcoming Euro Tour celebrating 30 years of the Iced Earth’s classic Album ‘The Dark Saga’.
Barlow also talked about the upcoming Ashes of Ares new studio album that will be released in the summer of 2025.
When asked if his announcements to go out and perform Iced Earth’s ‘The Dark Saga’ in its entirety, with Ashes of Ares in Europe caused any backlash from Jon Shaffer’s involvement of Jan 6 “We don’t live in a tube of silence here. I think at the end of the day it’s the music and I hope that everybody’s respectful because I’m going to celebrate Jon (Shaffer) and what he’s done .You know (Jon) he’s written some F- amazing music and I’ve been fortunate to be a part of that. So outside of that I’m not going to get political with anything. We’re just talking strictly about music and it’s for the love of the music and I hope that everybody understands that. If Jon wants to tour again and play this music again I wholeheartedly look forward to that. If that’s a possibility. We’re just going to go out there and celebrate this music that is very special for a lot of people. We’ve been given the blessing to do so by Jon. So that’s super important to us as well.”
When asked if he would rejoin Iced Earth ” Well it’s not on the table. Something like that would be entirely up to Jon, that’s Jon’s band 100%. So that would be something that Jon would have to decide. Whether I would be a part of it or not either way but whether Iced Earth goes out and does it I look forward to that. Whether it would be me involved with it or some somebody else if that were to happen and I can’t speak to it.”
When asked if there is a new Ashes of Ares studio album coming out “We got a new record coming out called New Messiahs. I think there’s some really really good music in this record, we’ve been sitting on it for a while. As far as the release times, we got pushed back a little bit but the record has been in the can for about a year.We’ve been sitting on it for a while and it’s really tough man. It’s really tough to sit on music that you’re really excited about people hearing. It’ll be out this summer 2025. We’re getting ready to release some promotional videos and stuff like that too. So that’s that’s coming. It’s amazing.”
Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice recently spoke to Epica‘s singer Simone Simons about the bands upcoming 9th studio album Aspiral which will be released April 11, 2025 via Nuclear Blast.
When asked what has Epica done differently musically on this album then the last one (Omega) “I think with Omega we already tried to write differently or have a different writing process meaning that we would get together in like a sort of writing camp. We booked a house for a week and we were all together there with our producer. We loved that so much that we did it for Aspiral and we really cleared our schedules from tours and shows so we could really focus on the music and be there under the guidance of our producer and that was a lot of fun. In between Omega and the Aspiral we had the Alchemy Project and there we did something different recording wise where we would record the drums, the guitar and bass at the same time to give it a little bit more raw feeling sound. That’s something that we also continued now on Aspiral and besides that we decided to give Epica a little bit of modern edge by adding more since but we did not abandon the choir and the orchestra and we make sure that every element gets their moment to shine.”
When asked about the continuation of the A New Age Dawns saga on this album and will it continue on next album “I think it’s the ending of this saga but who knows what Mark comes up with and does something new for the future. But since this was our ninth album and the topic of the album or topics of the album were a really great material to continue that for him. So he wrote the lyrics, we both write lyrics like 50/50 and the for the songs that he wrote the music for he then continued the A New Age Dawns for those songs with that idea in the back of his mind with lyric writing. It’s basically (meaning) in a nutshell just comes to that we are at the end of the shift in our consciousness where we all have to get together in this chaotic world in order to try to change things for the better.”
When asked about Touring highlights over the years “We played with Metallica. That was one of our highlights was, it last year or the year before that no it was 2023. We played Metallica three shows. It was amazing. I mean it was a matter of seconds where we had to immediately jump in and confirm that we could do the gigs and we couldn’t believe it ourselves but we’re very grateful for it. It was lovely to play on that round stage very different from what we’re normally used to but I decided to not think of it like the magnitude of that show but just have a good time you know run around on the stage. I was going to the gym a lot so my stamina was pretty good so I could run, jump and sing and entertain the crowd. We met the the whole band they’re very lovely and they also very hospitable they they had like welcome gifts in the backstage there was a cake and there were cards and yeah really nice and we got a warm welcome from the guys.”
Breathe in, breathe out, EPICA is back with a ground-breaking record.
The journey of growth follows a spiral, continuously widening and deepening with every cycle.
By sticking to this fundamental principle, symphonic metal innovators EPICA have again reinvented themselves on their ninth effort “Aspiral”. The new studio album shows a band brimming with a newfound joy. Make way for a masterclass in storytelling, grandeur, and timeless melodies.
The album title is derived from the eponymous bronze sculpture made by Polish sculptor and painter Stanisław Szukalski back in 1965. It stands for renewal and inspiration – keywords that define Epica in 2025. In Szukalski’s work every detail is a piece of art on its own and there’s always more to the story than you initially think. The band saw this as the perfect analogy for the creation of this album: each song stands on its own with a distinctive vibe and meaning, while together they enforce each other into a monumental effort. At the same time this symbolizes EPICA’s group dynamic throughout this process: they have encouraged, inspired, and challenged each other repeatedly. Determined to achieve something that is greater than the sum of its parts, they left no stone unturned in their search for perfection. If it’s up to creative people to push boundaries, then this sextet sure did just that.
In addition, the process of both writing and recording the album was completely revised: from multiple secluded writing camps, enabling the band to create “Aspiral” as a team, to live band recording sessions capturing the raw energy of the live gigs in a studio environment. Standing united, every single band member brought inspiration, ideas, and years of song writing experience to the table. Just like the Szukalski statue, the album lyrics create a link between chaos, suffering and the beautiful new things to be born out of it. “Aspiral” describes it all in one simple word.
The Metal Voice sat down with Celloist Paavo Lötjönen from the band Apocalyptica who were on tour in Arizona on March 1, 2025.
Apocalyptica’s Paavo Lötjönen was asked about the connection with Metallica over the years, “First time we played as a support for Metallica was in 1996 for two nights in Helsinki, we were supporting them. They were watching the show and since then we have been in contact with them. We played a couple of times as a support (band) and met them. We were getting closer and closer (as friends). Somehow they were persuaded in what we were doing. They have even said that we have given them some courage for their projects like S&M (Symphonic Metallica) and some inspiration. Of course it’s a big honor for us that they have been so supportive. (Also) I never even dreamed that it would be possible to get them (Metallica) joining our album like Rob (Trujillo ) playing the bass tracks or Cliff Burton on our album ( Plays Metallica, Vol. 2) or James (Hetfield) talking. We never dared to think about it but it just happened. Once when having lunch with James he just asked “What would you think if we would do this kind of thing?” I said “Why not?”
Plays Metallica, Vol. 2 is the tenth studio album by Finnish Cello metal band Apocalyptica, released on 7 June 2024.
It is their second full cover album and a sequel to Plays Metallica by Four Cellos (1996). The album features new Metallica covers such as “The Four Horsemen” and “The Unforgiven II”, as well as a new recording of “One” with Metallica vocalist James Hetfield reciting the lyrics and bassist Robert Trujillo.[6] It also includes a cover of “The Call of Ktulu” featuring the original bass master track recorded by Cliff Burton in 1984.
Apocalyptica celebrated the release of Plays Metallica, Vol. 2 with a special concert at Helsinki Ice Hall on 8 June 2024.[8] The band will embark on a North American tour in support of the album with Nita Strauss in February and March 2025.
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently interviewed THREE DAYS GRACE drummer Neil Sanderson while on tour.
When asked about the musical direction, when comparing it to the first single MAYDAY “The rest of the record, we have a lot of really heavy moments. We do love sort of down tempo heaviness. I mean, we listen to a lot of PANTERA and stuff like that, and that is contrasted with some songs that I think are really going to bring out the emotion, because they’re emotional to us. And I think that’s the strongest connection with THREE DAYS GRACE and our fans, is that we’re writing from the heart and from the gut and deep down in the psyche and putting it out into song. And when people can relate to that and see their own lives in that music, then that’s the most powerful thing you can have as an artist. So there’s a lot of that where we stay true to ourselves and we’re not afraid to write about the real deep down stuff. And that seems to always resonate with our fans because it’s coming from a real place.”
When asked about a release date “It’s looking like we’re gonna be releasing it in June (2025). We’re just putting the final touches on it… We’re past the recording stage. We’re doing some mixing right now and just doing some finessing, just kind of going over (everything). Some of the times we’ll go back to it and just see like what we can mute, what we can remove. Sometimes that’s an exercise in making a record that’s good because sometimes you just have too much stuff in there and more isn’t always better. So we kind of go through, at this process, and just make sure that every part in there is deliberate and is there for a reason and is making the song better. If not, it’s gone.”
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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
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