Metallica are deep into “some pretty serious writing” writing for their next album. After first floating the idea of working on new music while under quarantine in April, by June Lars Ulrich had revealed that Metallica were, indeed, in writing mode. James and Rob have both said they’ve been busy working on new songs, too, and Kirk Hammett has trumpeted the fact that he has over 600 song ideas recorded (after infamously losing his cell phone with 300+ ideas prior to the sessions for Hardwired). The band were having some technical issues collaborating over the internet and were looking into doing so in-person in a bubble last they checked in, but that was months ago already.

According to Lars Ulrich in a new interview, that bubble jam sesh still hasn’t materialized, or if it has, it wasn’t substantial enough to make much progress. Speaking to Classic Rock about the follow-up to Hardwired, the drummer said:

“[It’s been] glacial. These are the craziest of times and nothing is letting up. There’s a little bit of movement [in that direction], but it’s hard to do a lot when we’re not together.”

Back in the fall, Lars explained more in depth the problems of collaborating from afar, telling Kara Swisher at the CNBC Evolve Summit that the band prefer to jam to write new music instead of sending files back and forth, and that the technology for that simply isn’t there yet:

“Being a rock and roll band and working virtually is not super easy. Time delays, all these things make it really hard. The main thing we miss is being able to hear each other. [Laughs] So if we’re all four in a room together, we can connect with each other and we can hear each other. If I’m playing here in San Francisco, and Kirk and James, our two guitar players, are either in O’ahu or Colorado, there are significant time delays. It’s very hard for us to play at the same time. If I’m doing what we call steering, which means that I’m playing a beat and they’re playing to me, I can’t hear what they’re playing, and vice versa. We can’t all hear each other in a universal fashion. So there are some significant complications we have. Our recording team and our production team are speaking to software makers all over the world [about] how to crack the code on this. Nobody has quite figured it out yet.”

Regardless, Ulrich recently stated that he feels Metallica’s next album will be their best… so, ya know.

Metallica have managed to stayed busy during the pandemic, racking up over a billion Spotify streams in 2020 alone. In May, they released a semi-acoustic, reimagined version of “Blackened.” Then, in August, they hosted a pre-recorded drive-in concert at hundreds of outdoor movie theaters and released a recording of last year’s S&M2 concert. A re-worked version of “Nothing Else Matters” is scheduled to appear in Disney’s upcoming Jungle Cruise movie starring The Rock and Emily Blunt. And the band hosted a virtual charity concert in November to benefit their All Within My Hands foundation, raising over $1.3 million.

[via Blabbermouth]

The post Metallica Making “Glacial Progress” on New Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Max Cavalera’s Soulfly have entered the studio to record the follow-up to 2018’s Ritual. For the twelfth album, the band is working with producer Arthur Rizk (Cavalera Conspiracy, Power Trip, Code Orange) at Platinum Underground in Phoenix, Arizona.

Max Cavalera comments: 

“I’ve been working on this record with my son, Zyon, since June of last year. We are in the studio now with producer Arthur Rizk, creating a really wild record. Expect the unexpected! No rules, no limits, not holding anything back, just pure Soulfy!”

The as-of-yet-untitled-record is tentatively scheduled for a late 2021 release.

You can view more photos from the studio below.

The post Soulfly Enter the Studio to Record New Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Dee Snider’s 2018 solo album, For the Love of Metal, brought the Twisted Sister frontman firmly into metal’s present while staying true to his roots. Produced by Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta and with assists from a number of notable meal musicians — including members of Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, Arch Enemy, Toxic Holocaust and more — the album wasn’t so much a game-changer as it was simply fun, an escape from the metal monotony that consumes our day-to-day. And besides, who doesn’t love Dee friggin’ Snider’s voice?? Especially paired with a different kind of music than we’re used to hearing.

The dynamic duo of Snider and Jasta are teaming up once again for a follow-up to For the Love of Metal, currently working in the studio with Dee’s live band laying down tracks. The news comes from a quick update Dee himself offered on Twitter, saying:

“Well…I’m currently in the studio with my live band recording 13 (maybe 14) new original songs for my follow up to 2018’s “For the Love of Metal”. It’s produced (again) by @jameyjasta and being release this summer (?) on @NapalmRecords. Once again it will be HEAVY!!! https://t.co/JaKCIRF6jh“

Snider has been staying active during the pandemic, finishing up a novel and releasing a Christmas song with Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale. Dee recently joined The MetalSucks Podcast and shared a funny story about how he was so impressed by Lzzy’s live vocals the first time he saw her perform that he asked the sound engineer to hear her direct feed to make sure there weren’t any backing tracks piped in.

The post Dee Snider is Making Another Solo Album with Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta appeared first on MetalSucks.

Abbath, bearer of the most easily-recognizable corpse paint design in metal (his music is also pretty good), has entered the studio to begin work on his third full-length studio album.

The former Immortal frontman shared the above image on social media, along with this message:

“In the beginning of February, we have entered Dub Studio in Kristiansand with producer Endre Kirkesola to record what will be the third Abbath album. The record is due later this year and promises to be everything you have learned to love about Abbath’s music and then some.

“Expect to be blown away, this is some of the best material we’ve written so far – hard, heavy, catchy and huge. The best of all worlds.

“More details of the release will be posted soon, stay tuned for updates.”

Those are some big words, but Abbath has the cred to back ’em up: not only was his work with Immortal, y’know, immortal, but his first two solo outings, Abbath (2016) and Outstrider (2019), both SLAYED. So. Yeah. Odds are this’ll be good, too.

This latest offering will also be notable ’cause it’ll be Abbath’s first since he got sober at the end of 2019, following a show in Argentina at which he was noticeably too intoxicated to play. He subsequently entered rehab.

So… new Abbath album hopefully coming before the end of 2021! Make room on your year-end list now.

The post Abbath Enters the Studio appeared first on MetalSucks.

Last we checked in with Anthrax about new music — next week will mark the five year anniversary of the release of their last record, For All Kings — guitarist Scott Ian had this to say about releasing an album during the pandemic. Or, more specifically, his preference not to:

“We started writing new Anthrax last year — obviously, without a crystal ball knowing what was going to happen in the world, but with the intent of having a record out this year. Obviously, that’s not happening now. So we’re still writing — we’re still working on it. The COVID has obviously put a crimp in our plans, because we can’t just get together and jam when we want to, and traveling has become not so easy, and all of that. So we’ve just been, slowly but surely, working on new material. And if anything, it just affords us more time to come up with more stuff.

“We’ve never been the kind of band to have, like, 30 songs, and then we’re gonna choose the best 10 — we’ve never done that. I think the most we’ve ever had was maybe two more than we needed for a record, and it’s usually pretty obvious, like, ‘These two aren’t gonna make the record.’ But maybe this time around we’ll end up with 15 songs or something. But because we’re afforded this much time to be writing, it’s not like we’re gonna know, ‘These are 10 for the record, and who knows what we’ll do with these five.’ So I have a feeling it’s gonna be more, like, we’re gonna have 15 album tracks. We’re not releasing a double record, if it’s up to me, because what a waste of material that would be. But I just like the fact that we will have a lot of great material.

“Maybe sometime early next year we’ll be ready to go in and make a record — if it makes sense. I’ve said it before — I don’t wanna put a record out till we can play shows. For me, to put a record out in a vacuum, it makes no sense to me. I’m not gonna put a record out and not play proper gigs — I’m not gonna do that. So we have to be patient — everyone has to be patient.”

That writing process has progressed a bit since when that interview took place (October) if a new video from drummer Charlie Benante is any indication. No, the band aren’t in the studio yet, but a new Instagram clip shows Benante laying down drum tracks for a demo. And I likely don’t need to tell you that demos usually precede proper studio sessions… so perhaps it won’t be too long before that happens, too?

Everything’s still quite fluid, of course, as touring likely won’t happen before next fall at the very earliest. But Benante included the caption “2021’ish” as a tease for when a new album might arrive. So we’ll just have to wait and see.

Here’s the clip:

The post Video: Anthrax Drummer Charlie Benante Records New Song appeared first on MetalSucks.

Avenged Sevenfold have quite the redemption act ahead of them after surprise-releasing their last album, The Stage, to little fanfare back in October of 2016. Whether or not the release connected with longtime fans is open for debate (I’ve seen as much praise as hate), but what can’t be argued is that the lack of a traditional album promo cycle blunted the band’s momentum. By the time their next record comes out, late this year at the earliest, it will have been more than eight full years since their last album with a proper promotional campaign… that’s a very, very long time to be absent from public music consciousness in the traditional way, even if a segment of fans will find ways to connect with a band no matter what.

In a new chat with Minneapolis, Minnesota’s 93X radio station, frontman M. Shadows provided a brief update on progress the band has made on their next record. He explained:

 “We’re working on stuff. We have pretty much 70 percent of the record done. We have some things we can’t finish right now ’cause of COVID — string players, et cetera. We know Andy [Wallace, Avenged Sevenfold’s longtime mixer] doesn’t wanna travel, or his management doesn’t want him to travel because of COVID. So there’s just a lot of things going on.”

As far as a timeline for releases goes, Shadows said not to expect anything until touring comes back:

“It doesn’t make sense for us right now to put out a record and not be able to tour it. The world has changed. Putting out a record on Spotify without touring for a rock band, it just doesn’t make sense to us. So we’re gonna wait till everything is back, then we’ll come out with the record, finish it up, and all will be good.”

Speaking to Kerrang! late last year, Shadows revealed the majority of the material was written before the pandemic hit, but has been progressing slowly in the studio since:

“We’ve been writing a record for a while, and most of it was already written [before the coronavirus pandemic]. But then we kinda took a break on it, and then it would be like, ‘Hey, let’s get together two days this week,’ instead of five or six. It just started getting more casual. Then we recorded really casually, and — like I said — we’re still in the middle of it: we still have all these things that we can’t do. We’re still trying to get string sections together, and our mixer is older and I know that they don’t want him to travel right now because of COVID, so even if we got it done right now, we couldn’t get it mixed. So we’re just not worrying about it, you know? It’s like, ‘When we can, we can.’ But right now, we can’t. [Laughs].”

In the same interview, Shadows elaborated on why the band won’t put a record out until they can properly tour behind it, saying:

“No one wants to put out the record if we can’t tour it. The reality is — and no-one wants to hear this — in this day and age, rock ‘n’ roll just takes too long to make: you know, it’s going to be a three-year record to make. And if we put that record out and then we’re locked down for another year, as much as people don’t want to believe this, they are not going to give a shit about a record that came out a year prior when it’s time to tour.

“And so if it’s going to take us two or three years to write a record, we’re not going to put it out if we can’t go play it live. We know the anticipation won’t be there when the tours come around. You see it every day — if you look at iTunes or Spotify and see how quickly it all turns over, it’s just weekly onto the next thing and onto the next thing again. If you just imagine putting out a record in August, and then you’re not touring until next August, people don’t want to hear this but they’re not going to care; they’re going to be like, ‘What’s next?’ Once the Gojira record, or the new Metallica record, or the new Megadeth record comes out, they’re not going to care about what came out the year prior.

“Our whole thing is: if it’s going to take us three years to do a record, we’re going to make sure we can play it live and people are going to be excited about it.”

Shadows added of the new album’s musical direction:

“The [new] record sounds nothing like ‘The Stage’ — it’s a completely new direction, and it sounds nothing like anything we’ve done. That’s all I’ll say about it: it’s over the top, and it’s very eclectic and wild.”

You can watch the full interview with 93X below.

[via Blabbermouth]

The post Avenged Sevenfold’s New Album is 70% Done appeared first on MetalSucks.

Like every other band, Rammstein had to cancel their summer 2020 tour plans. Rescheduled dates for 2021 are here, although you shouldn’t be shocked if those end up being re-rescheduled for 2022.

But instead of staying idle, the band took the opportunity to work on new music last year. Last June, drummer Christoph Schneider revealed that the band has been using the forced downtime from the pandemic to work on new material, and then in October the band confirmed they were back at La Fabrique studios, where they recorded their latest album, sharing a video clip of the sessions:

Now, in a new interview with Motor.de, keyboardist Flake Lorenz has revealed the band’s got an entire new album in the can from those sessions. He explained:

“The fact that we couldn’t perform live increased our creativity. We had more time to think of new things and less distraction. As a result, we recorded a record that we hadn’t planned on.”

Even if we allow that Lorenz may have been speaking loosely (as well as a possible translation issue) — let’s say it’s not FULLY recorded, or it has yet to be mixed, for example — it appears we’ll still be getting a new album way quicker than we ordinarily do from Rammstein, who took 10 years between their last release (self-titled in 2019) and the one before it (Liebe ist für alle da), and four years between albums from the one before that (Rosenrot). A 2021 release is entirely possible at this juncture, but even 2022 would be speedy by Rammstein’s standards.

While we await news on that, here’s an insane time-lapse video of Rammstein’s stage crew setting up for the tour that never happened last winter. Here’s to hoping those rescheduled dates take place.

The post Rammstein Have Finished a New Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Demon Hunter frontman Ryan Clark was our guest on a recent episode of The MetalSucks Podcast to talk about the journey of creating acoustic versions of classic Demon Hunter tracks for their new album, Songs of Death and Resurrection, among other topics.

Describing how the idea for the acoustic album came into existence, and how that preceded the band’s livestream of the same despite it appearing to fans to happen the other way around, he explained:

“It’s something we concocted early 2019 or late 2018. We came up with the idea first that we wanted to tour in a way where we did ‘An Evening With Demon Hunter,’ where we sort of highlighted the two different sides, the heavy and the melodic, and did a full blown, full band acoustic set which was like 12 songs, then have an intermission, and come back out and do a heavy set. We did a couple of short runs in 2019 with that format and it was really fun. It was the first time we dabbled with full band acoustic [shows]. We’d done a decent amount of just me and a guitar player, or me and maybe two guitar players in stores, and things like that. But they were always a little bit thrown together.

“So this time we wanted to put all of the same effort that we would into a normal show into an acoustic performance. We just all had so much fun doing it, and I think our fans really dug it. We wore suits, and made it a special event.

“After those shows went so well, prior to 2020 our plan was to do more of those shows and add to that. The recording of an acoustic record was taking that acoustic set and going even further.

“The piano is one of the standout factors in there, and that’s Joanna, who is Jeremiah [Scott], our guitar player’s sister-in-law. Phenomenal pianist. We gave her the songs and within a couple days she knew all of them better than we did. She added so much to the recording. So when it came time to do the recording, and especially after it was pretty obvious that nobody was going to be touring or anything this year, we just laser focused in on the record.

“That was just all about creating a vibe, first off. We’ve never actually recorded as a band live. It’s always been traditional layering. You know, you start with a scratch guitar, scratch drums and you start layering it. Lately it’s been more fragmented and we’ve been doing it remotely, jumping in and out of recording. So this was the first time we all got together [to record] and actually recorded the songs as we played them. ‘Cause we wanted to capture that vibe. And we did that with the piano. Beyond that we started overdubbing all of the stringed instruments, and everything from bagpipes to timpani drums and whatnot. So that was sort of layered after the fact. But what we definitely wanted to do was capture the vibe of us playing together.

“And that gave us a reinvigoration of these songs, put them in a new light. We felt really good about them, kind of birthed them anew, if you will. We just really wanted to focus on those songs for this year.

“We really had no intention of doing a livestream at the time when we were recording. But we sort of quickly realized that that was our way to pick up where we left off on some touring, ’cause we really were excited about touring and bringing that format to more people. We did probably 12 or 14 dates the year prior so we wanted to spread it out and hit more cities. This was basically our way of figuring out how to do that. At that point [livestreaming] had been pretty successful for a lot of bands, just the ability to do it and do it well, so there was kind of a template of sorts. We did a few things our own way but sort of gauged how to do it by virtue of other bands doing it. It was a lot of fun. We put it together pretty quickly but we had been playing these songs for so long, the years prior, we were really, like I said, hyper focused on these acoustic [versions] so it was really fresh in all our minds. We’d been playing them a lot so I felt like we were playing the songs really well. It was kind of the perfect way to sum up this little chapter of these songs. It seems like, to the viewer or listener, the livestream sort of preceded the record but it was just by virtue of scheduling that that’s the case. It was the last piece of the puzzle, really.”

Listen to our full chat with Ryan below or right here.

The post Demon Hunter Vocalist Reveals How Acoustic Album and Livestream Concert Came Into Existence appeared first on MetalSucks.

M. Shadows (né Matthias Penumbra) has said that Avenged Sevenfold won’t release their new album until the band can tour again… but that doesn’t mean they’re not working on it!

As of last month, Shadows estimated that the group had already completed 70% of the record; now the band has shared some footage from the studio. It’s mostly Shadows, off-camera, giving directions/suggestions to drummer Brooks Wackerman (ex-Bad4Good, #neverforget). I don’t think anyone but the most devoted A7X fan will find it all that interesting, but I have four kids to feed, so I’m sharing it just in case.

You can watch the video below. It was first shared via a livestream on the band’s ‘Gram, but was subsequently uploaded to YouTube by someone who thinks the rent is too damn high.

Avenged Sevenfold’s last album, The Stage, was surprise released in 2016. That marketing decision went swimmingly.

The post Avenged Sevenfold Share Video From the Studio appeared first on MetalSucks.

Late last year, ††† (Crosses) surprise-released a cover of “The Beginning of the End” by ’90s electropop band Cause & Effect. It was the first new music from the outfit, featuring vocalist Chino Moreno (Deftones) and guitarist Shaun Lopez (Far), since their 2014 self-titled record.  

Now a new photo of the pair in the studio has been posted on the band’s official social media accounts, indicating that new music is likely on the way. With Deftones having released an album last year, Moreno is presumably more available for work with Lopez. That’s all we’ve got for now, but it’s something to look forward to.

You can give “The Beginning of the End” a listen below.

[via Lambgoat]

The post Crosses ††† (Deftones, Far) are Working on New Music appeared first on MetalSucks.

Jinjer are officially in the recording studio working on the follow-up to their massively successful 2019 album, Macro. A new video shows drummer Vladislav “Vladi” Ulasevich laying down drum parts as well as some other footage from the studio, with a few audible clips of new music. You can watch that below.

Ulasevich also recently shared footage displaying his talents on the piano, playing Rachmaninov’s “Prelude in C# Minor (Op. 3 No. 2).”

[via The PRP]

The post Jinjer are in the Studio appeared first on MetalSucks.

Late last year, Meshuggah revealed plans for a fall 2021 tour after canceling all summer engagements for the year and said their next album was already mostly written, suggesting they’d have a new album ready to go by the time the tour comes around. Now, a new photo posted to the band’s social accounts depicting drummer Tomas Haake’s kit mic’ed up in a studio suggests they are on track to honor that timeline of a late 2021 release.

You can see the photo below. That’s all we know at the moment, but Meshuggah are typically quite secretive about their recording process. We’ll post an update as soon as we learn more.

Meshuggah’s last album, The Violent Sleep of Reason, came out in 2016.

The post Meshuggah are In the Studio appeared first on MetalSucks.

Last we heard from Cynic mastermind Paul Masvidal, in December of last year, the vocalist and guitarist, reflecting on the unspeakable tragedy of losing two longtime collaborators to death within 12 months of each other, balanced the darkness with light by promising a new Cynic album would arrive in 2021.

Masvidal seems poised to deliver on that promise if a new post on his personal Instagram is any indication. The photo shows Masvidal with vocalist and frequent Cynic collaborator Amy Correia in a studio, seated underneath a chart showing recording progress on what we can only assume are new Cynic song titles (or perhaps working titles).

“Mythical Serpents,” “Aurora (Stargate),” “Diamond Light Body,” “In a Multiverse Where Atoms Sings” and “Sentient Beings” are among the works listed on the chart, on which most of the columns — which typically denote individual instruments — have been checked off.

What’s more, the post’s caption reads “Channeling Light Language recording session,” the capitalization of which suggests that could be the title of Cynic’s next album. In case there’s any doubt the sessions are for Cynic and not some other project, Masvidal has tagged the band in the post. And those certainly all SOUND like Cynic song and album titles, don’t they?

Something else to look forward to as the miserable year that was 2020 morphs into the slightly more tolerable 2021. We’ll keep you posted.

The post New Cynic Album is Nearing Completion; Possible Title Revealed? appeared first on MetalSucks.

When we recently learned that Meshuggah have entered Sweden’s Sweetspot Studios, we were all like, “Hey, I bet they’re recording a new album!”

Now the band has confirmed that they are, indeed, in the midst of creating what will be their ninth full-length studio album. Their last album, The Violent Sleep Of Reason, was released in 2016.

The news comes from a press release sent out this morning. As part of that same press release, they also revealed that guitarist Frederik Thordendal, who has been sitting out touring since 2017, has now returned to the line-up; his temporary replacement, Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry), is therefore no longer needed.

Here’s the statement from the band:

“Things are happening. As some of you figured out we have entered Sweetspot Studios and have begun recording a new album. ::Spoiler:: There will be distortion and kicks. 

“Also, we have other news. We are releasing Per Nilsson back into the wild to roam free in any way he sees fit. It has been a true privilege and honor to share the stage with Per and even more importantly we have made a great friend through our travels. Per. We thank you. You are a formidable human being!!

“Check out all of Per’s goodness at www.facebook.com/scarguitar | www.facebook.com/scarsymmetry

“So why are we releasing Per back into a more stable habitat you ask? The answer is simple. Fredrik will be back for lead work on the album as well as touring going forward. In other words. The band is back together. In full effect.”

No word on when the record will drop, but it’s basically April, sooo… it could be later this year but it could easily be 2022.

You’ll know more when we do.

Meshuggah revealed plans for a fall 2021 tour of Europe. Dates are below. Support comes from Zeal & Ardor.

2021:
19.11. A-Vienna – Arena
20.11. D-Munich – Tonhalle
22.11. F-Lyon – Le Transbordeur
23.11. D-Wiesbaden – Schlachthof
25.11. NL-Tilburg – 013
26.11. LUX-Esch Sur Alzette – Rockhal
27.11. F-Lille – L’Aeronef
28.11. F-Paris – L’Olympia
30.11. F-Milan – Alcatraz
01.12. CH-Zurich – Samsung Hall
02.12. D-Leipzig – Haus Auensee
03.12. D-Oberhausen – Ruhrpott Metal Meeting*
05.12. UK-Bristol – O2 Academy
06.12. SCO-Glasgow – Barrowlands
08.12. UK-Manchester – Academy
09.12. UK-Nottingham – Rock City
11.12. B-Brussels – Ancienne Belgique
12.12. D-Berlin – Columbiahalle
13.12. D-Hamburg – Große Freiheit
+
2022
03.06. UK-London – Royal Albert Hall*

*No Zeal & Ardor

The post Officially Official: Meshuggah Are Recording Their Next Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

High on Fire guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike is working on a solo album.

The news comes not via Pike himself but High on Fire bassist Jeff Matz, who revealed on social media that he’s lending Pike an assist with his solo music as well… on a traditional Turkish stringed instrument known as the bağlama. Billy Anderson (Eyehategod, Mr. Bungle, Sleep, etc.) is producing the effort.

On Saturday, March 27, Matz posted a photo on Instagram from the recording studio along with the caption:

“Had a great time recording some elektro bağlama tracks with @everythinghz for my brother @mattpike1972 ‘s upcoming solo album”

No potential release date or other details about Pike’s solo effort are available.

A new High on Fire album is reportedly on the way later this year. High on Fire drummer and founding member Des Kensel left the band in 2019 after a two decade stint, and Chris Maggio (Wear Your Wounds, Coliseum, ex-Trap Them) took his spot for touring duties and is expected to be named Kensel’s permanent replacement, although that hasn’t been confirmed by either party.

High on Fire picked up a Grammy in 2019 for Electric Messiah. That same year, Pike revealed that diabetes was to blame for a toe amputation in 2018 that necessitated the cancelation of some tour dates.

Pike is also working on a project with Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds.

[via The PRP]

The post High on Fire’s Matt Pike is Making a Solo Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Smith/Kotzen, the aptly-monikered new project from Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs, ex-Poison), continues to be a traffic boon for MetalSucks. I don’t know if that means our readership now entirely consists of the gray-haired or if “Smith/Kotzen” is the secret magic password to unlock The All-Holy Facebook Algorithm® or what.

I found this confusing before; having now listened to Smith/Kotzen, the aptly-monikered debut album from Smith/Kotzen, I am downright baffled. I mean, don’t get me wrong: it’s not at all bad. But I don’t think it’s anything special.

Having said that, the need to feed my eight children dictates that I post the below Smith/Kotzen make-of video. Juicy insider details include Smith revealing that he and Kotzen “have a lot in commen,” and that the project has been “fun” for Kotzen. Oooooooooooh!

Watch the video below. Smith/Kotzen’s Smith/Kotzen is out now. You can stream it at the bottom of this post. Buy it here.

The post Current and Ex Members of Iron Maiden and Poison Release Album Making-of Video appeared first on MetalSucks.

California death metallers Exhumed have entered the studio to record their tenth full-length album.

The band have been documenting their progress on social media. You can view the updates they’ve offered so far below.

Exhumed’s last album, Horror, was released in 2019.

Last year, the band released Twisted Horror, a split with Gruesome.

[via The PRP]

The post Exhumed Enter the Studio appeared first on MetalSucks.

Aborted, like The Black Dahlia Murder, are one of those bands who seem to be remarkably consistent; they put out a new album pretty much every two years — often with EPs in-between — and the results are invariably excellent.

So the news that the Belgian death metallers have hit the studio to record their their eleventh full-length is most definitely cause for celebration.

The band shared the news on social media, revealing that drummer Ken Bedene has already completed recording his parts with producer Zack Ohren (Machine Head, All Shall Perish, Exmortus, etc.). They also shared some photos of Bedene and Ohren in the studio.

Says Bedene of the experience:

“When working on this record, we actually had the plan to jam with the band for a good week before tracking to really flesh out the songs. Well… we all know what happened last year, so we were left with the choice to wait or to try something different.

“I think all of us wanted to avoid the thought of ‘the pandemic is going to lessen our album quality’. Luckily for us, we’ve written music apart from each other for over 10 years now, so the writing process wasn’t too much of a change; recording, however, was a bit different.

“As far as drums go, finding a studio, room, and an engineer who can work intense death metal is a must for us. We were fortunate enough to work with Zack Ohren and find a way to work around the pandemic to actually get a record that I think everyone will be insanely stoked on. I for one was very excited to finally get a chance to work with Zack, since I’ve lived in California my whole life and known of Zack’s work for half of it.

“Trust me when I tell you that not only did we pull off the covid record, but we managed to pull off one of our strongest records to date and I can’t wait for you all to hear it.”

You can view the studio pics below.

The band hasn’t said when they expect to release this latest offering. Maybe if we’re lucky, later this year? It’s already been more than two years since they put out their last album, TerrorVision, so they’re technically due (although they did release an EP in 2020, La Grande Mascarade).

While we wait for more intel, Aborted bellower Sven de Caluwé was a guest on The MetalSucks Quarantinecast almost exactly a year ago! Revisit that fun chat between Sven and our Vince Neilstein here.

[via Lambgoat]

The post Aborted Are In the Studio Recording Their Next Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Up until about 2013, Adema were best-known for the band that was once fronted by Jonathan Davis from Korn’s father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate. Then they released the EP Topple the Giants, and FINALLY, they were best-known for something else: having arguably the worst album cover in the history of music.

Now the band is back in the studio working on new music. Naturally, this means there will be one question on everyone’s mind for the next few months:

What will the album cover look like???

I can’t say for sure, but I’m guessing it will be something like this:

While we wait to find out, you can watch a video of the band in the studio below.

This will be Adema’s first release with the bad guy from Teen Wolf Too as their singer.

[via The PRP]

The post Adema Back in the Studio, Toppling Giants appeared first on MetalSucks.

King’s X bassist and vocalist Doug Pinnick has revealed that the band’s next album is currently in the mixing phase, and that he has some lofty expectations and high hopes for what will be the band’s first release in 13 years, citing their beloved, classic records, Dogman (1994) and Gretchen Goes to Nebraska (1989).

Speaking to Laughingmonkeymusic about the progress of the follow-up to XV (2008), Pinnick explained:

“I brought 25 songs in. And Ty [Tabor, guitar] and Jerry [Gaskill, drums] brought a slew of songs in, too. We got 17 songs out of the whole record. We’re not gonna put ’em all on the record, but we have a lot to choose from now. And Michael Parnin, who produced it and engineered it, he’s mixing it right now.”

Pinnick added that the band will wait until touring is possible to release the record, invoking his age (“at our age, this could be our last record,” said the 70-year-old) and a desire to get it right:

“And we wanna do it right. We don’t wanna just put it out there in the middle of the pandemic and hope somebody buys it. We wanna put it out, go on tour and do videos. I mean, do it like we’re supposed to do it. So we’re telling our fans to just kind of be patient with us, because we really, really are hoping that this is as good as [1994’s] ‘Dogman’ and [1989’s] ‘Gretchen [Goes To Nebraska]’, which is what everybody wants. But it’s not a rehash of it. In fact, this record doesn’t sound like either one.

“I think that we worked really, really hard on this record, like we haven’t since the early days — around ‘Gretchen’ and ‘Dogman.’ I can tell it in the songs, how we’re all singing and everybody’s contributing to it. They’re not just doing my songs, and I’m not just doing Ty’s songs. We’re really putting ourselves into it.”

Pinnick cited Meshuggah as a major influence on the music this time around, stating:

“I had some pretty crazy songs, time-change-wise, ’cause I’ve been listening to a lot of Meshuggah and shit like that. It’s not King’s X, but that flavor comes in. Imagine John Bonham playing with Meshuggah… But Ty and Jerry are singing a lot too. I tell people, it’s like from [The Beatles’ classic song] ‘Penny Lane’ to the heaviest Meshuggah — it’s a blend of something in between there. And one song to another almost sounds different, almost to the point where they’re individual pieces themselves, like Pink Floyd used to do. We’ve got violins and other things in it. I’ve got some keyboards and all kinds of things to enhance things — piano. Nothing overboard, but just like [Jimi] Hendrix did and people like that — big things coming in and out that gives it that longevity, I would say. Things that you hear and go, ‘Oh, wow. That’s cool.’ That little thing over there. So it’s taken Michael a long time to mix it, ’cause he’s got a lot of tracks.”

As a massive fan of King’s X and their early material in particular, I’m certainly in the “which is what everyone wants” group with regards to Dogman and Gretchen, although I love a lot of their later material too. What makes me most excited, though, is the time it’s taken the band to write all these songs — tinkering, tinkering, tinkering — and the collaborative effort Pinnick cites. We’ll see in another six months to a year, I suppose!

[via Blabbermouth]

The post King’s X Frontman Hopes New Album is as Good as ‘Dogman’ and ‘Gretchen’ appeared first on MetalSucks.

Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares joined us for this week’s episode of The MetalSucks Podcast to chat about his public split with former vocalist Burton Seabell, the upcoming new album, Aggression Continuum, dealing with fan backlash and more.

In a more light-hearted portion of the interview, Dino revealed that mega-producer Bob Rock (Mötley Crüe, Metallica, Bon Jovi, etc.) almost ended up producing Fear Factory’s ground-breaking 2001 album, Digimortal. While that tidbit is already public knowledge (it’s briefly mentioned on the album’s Wikipedia page), Dino went into further detail about the forces that led to Rock’s name being on the table and why he ultimately declined.

Speaking on the success of Digimortal, Dino began:

“I felt really confident about the record because I thought it had some really great, strong songs on it, and it has our biggest song to date, which is “Linchpin.” It’s like, like 30 million fuckin’ listens on Spotify [24.7 million as of the time of this writing. -Ed.]. It’s just a song that does not stop. It just keeps going. So it did produce our #1 song that we ever released.

“But no, I was really behind the record, I really loved it. Sure there were a couple things I would have changed on the record. But there were some outside influences that also changed the record into sounding the way it did. The record label really wanted us to have a successful record, they wanted us to go Platinum because we were coming off the success of ‘Obsolete,’ a gold record. So the record company wanted to send in some outside producers who were more commercial type producers.

“I’m not sure if I said this or not but Bob Rock almost produced this album. Bob Rock almost produced ‘Digimortal.’ I had a couple conversations with him, how we were talking about the record and what it was going to sound like and production ideas. But then he ended up taking like a $2 million gig with somebody else. So he didn’t do this record. I was actually kinda happy at the end of the day to go with Mike Plotnikoff and Rhys Fulber, ’cause you know, it also puts it in our control again. ‘Cause who knows what kind of influence Bob Rock would have had on that record, could have been worse.”

Elsewhere in our chat with Dino, he revealed that Burton turned in the record that would end up being called Aggression Continuum to the band’s label without Dino’s knowledge, and with a title and artwork he’d never seen. You can read that story here and listen to the full interview below or here.

The post How Bob Rock Almost Produced Fear Factory’s <em>Digimortal</em> appeared first on MetalSucks.

Just a few months before the pandemic shut the world down, ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato joined Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell on stage for the latter’s solo show in Los Angeles, performing the Chains classics “Would?” and “Down in a Hole,” (tackling Layne Stayley’s parts) and a cover of “Who’ll Stop the Rain” by John Fogerty.

Now it appears Cantrell is returning the favor by contributing to Puciato’s next solo album, the follow-up to his debut, Child Soldier: Creator of God, which came out last year.

The PRP reports that recording sessions for the effort are taking place at the Foo Fighters‘ Studio 606, sharing a photo originally posted on Jerry’s Instagram of the two together. Jesse Draxler (a frequent Puciato collaborator who co-runs Puciato’s Federal Prisoner label), producer Steve Evetts (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die) and Poison The Well drummer Chris Hornbrook are all also pictured in other social media posts related to the sessions.

Neat, right? I’m automatically excited for anything either Puciato or Cantrell put their hands on, but triply so for something with both of them together. Puciato is said to have contributed to Cantrell’s long-gestating solo album as well.

More as soon as we have it.

The post Alice in Chains and The Dillinger Escape Plan Members are in the Studio Together appeared first on MetalSucks.

With a new Deftones album out last year, frontman Chino Moreno has seemingly shifted his attention to Crosses †††, his synth-rock outfit with Far guitarist Shaun Lopez and bassist/producer Chuck Doom.

After a single photo of Moreno and Lopez in the studio made the rounds back in March, the group has now posted a more extensive set detailing their recording activities. Guitarist Jono Evans has also been present for the sessions while Doom does not appear to have been involved (at least in person on the day these photos were taken, and unless he was the one taking the photos).

Crosses have released three EPs and one full-length, the latter arriving back in 2014. They released a standalone cover of “The Beginning of the End” by ’90s electropop band Cause & Effect last year.

You’ll know more about new Crosses material as soon as we do.

[via The PRP]

The post Crosses ††† (Deftones, Far) Were in the Studio in May appeared first on MetalSucks.

At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg recently joined The MetalSucks Podcast to talk about the band’s forthcoming record, The Nightmare of Being, the legacy of their 2014 comeback album, At War with Reality, his work with Lock Up, and more.

One yet-to-be-released track on the new album, “Garden of Cyrus,” features a saxophone, new sonic territory for At the Gates. Podcast host Petar Spajic asked if the band’s decision to introduce the instrument was born of a desire to take chances, and Lindberg replied:

“That was the vision we went in [to the studio] with, [let’s] let go of our boundaries even more. To dare a little bit more, to let emotions carry it further than before. That’s where you have all this proggy influence, the doom, it’s almost minimalistic at some points. Emotions were the most important, even to the music.

“It was not difficult [to record the saxophone], as in we knew where we wanted to take it, especially emotionally, and we had an idea of the outlines and instrumentation pretty early on. Of course it’s a big project, but a fun project to work on. It’s fulfilling in a sense, you know that you’re leaving the safety. [laughs]

“But I guess, for example, the saxophone is the first time we ever had an improvisational piece on an At The Gates record and improvisation and metal usually don’t go hand-in-hand that well. Metal is more about precision and serious orchestration and meticulousness. It was interesting to see what a freeform jazz musician would do with the chord progression. It was so fulfilling to hear him go in there and just go wild with it.”

You can listen to the rest of our chat with Tomas right here or using the embed below.

You’ll need to wait until The Nightmare of Being comes out on July 2 to hear the saxophone in “Garden of Cyrus,” however.

The post At the Gates Frontman Tomas Lindberg Details Recording Saxophone on New Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Ever wondered how Slipknot get anything done with nine voices in the room? It’s not easy, according to percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan, who elaborated on the band’s painstaking writing process in a new interview.

Speaking to Minnesota radio station 93X, Clown detailed the process for the band’s currently in-progress new album, explaining that everyone in the band has to participate and feel confident in a song before it’s proclaimed done.

What’s more, he revealed that the band wrote a song called “Without the Gray” dedicated to late bassist Paul Gray many years ago — Gray died in 2010 — and Clown is the one being a stick in the mud about letting it move forward.

He explained:

“We fight like brothers when we write music because everybody wants to be able to write the song, including the nine of us. I laugh so hard because we’ll fight to the death almost over 10 songs.

“And that’s passion, that’s a lot of passion. And I can pretty much say that none of that is because of money or credit that is written, it’s more of who we are – artists, and musicians, and songwriters, and lyricists.

“We paint, we draw, we jam, we write prose… So we take this art more seriously than anyone else. That’s involved with us, I’m not talking about other bands, I’m talking about we take this very seriously. Probably more than you, probably more than the label, probably more than everyone…

“So it’s very important always for everyone to understand that what they hear is a palette of many colors, and those colors are temperatures. If you’ve ever met everyone in Slipknot, you know that we’re all different. We all bring a different color.

“And sometimes when those colors are mixed, a brand new color shows up. For instance, I and the other drummer, percussionist – he can do something, I can do something in a song. But when we do something together, it creates something else.

“So if you have to break it down, Slipknot cannot be without all those colors. It’s like doing a Bob Ross painting without some trees, slamming the brush back and forth – you just can’t have it. So it’s really a simple concept.

“It’s sort of horrible that we have to remind everybody that it’s not a Slipknot song until everybody’s on it, but we still do. And if we weren’t all on it, you would know it, you’d feel it.

“There are so many songs that have never been released because they get taken up to a point, and they’re doing good, then they just sort of fall short because maybe that right brush just couldn’t bring that color yet. So we hold it back.

“There’s tons of music… We have a song that we wrote for Paul Gray called ‘Without the Gray,’ and it’s my fault ’cause I’ve held it, for a long time. I don’t know why.

“It was too close in the beginning, it seemed like it needed to be for us more than for everyone else. And then now, I don’t care, I want it to be for everyone else instead of us. So there’s a lot of music.

“It takes everyone, and if everyone’s not on it, things get held back, and then they don’t make their way.

“So right now, we’re making a new album, and it’s creating all kinds of just fuss. We’ve all been separated for a year, I think it’s safe to say some guys want to be left alone, and some guys are out in the world.

“Just kind of like people want to wear masks and they don’t want to wear masks, it’s just each to their own. I’m 51 years old so I don’t have any more time to listen to people make excuses. You choose your own participation.

“I got busy, whether you like it or not, whether anyone in the band likes it or not, whether the fans like it or not, whether my wife likes it or my new dog – I don’t care. I got busy because I wanted to.

“And many guys in the band also got busy, everybody did to some degree what we could put together. Here’s why I say it like that, that might sound a little threatening and a little big – but here’s the deal…

“I could personally write 10 songs, which I did not write all the music on this album, but let’s say I did – it wouldn’t matter unless everybody put their love on it, and those aren’t going anywhere. Not one of them, not one.

“All these songs we’re doing right now – if the band didn’t feel like they couldn’t be on an album or they didn’t want to work, they’re just gonna be a waste of money, a waste of everybody’s time.

“And that’s just so not the way, we don’t care, we gotta do what’s right. And that’s what we’re doing right now.”

Clown also recently said that the band is excited to move on from Roadrunner Records and that the upcoming album will be their last for the band’s longtime label.

Slipknot are currently in the studio in Los Angeles recording the follow-up to We Are Not Your Kind, released in 2019. They are also working on new masks. Slipknot will bring their own Knotfest festival to their native Iowa in September, then embark on a tour with Killswitch Engage, Fever 333 and Code Orange opening immediately thereafter.

[via Ultimate Guitar]

The post Slipknot’s Clown Says Band Members “Fight to the Death” Over Songwriting appeared first on MetalSucks.

Lovable metal savant Devin Townsend spent several months over the past year+ detailing a new album called Puzzle, even revealing he was essentially finished mixing it in March. Now he’s gone and announced he’s recording a record called Lightwork, and revealed a 2022 European tour in support of it.

Is Lightwork an entirely separate album from Puzzle, or simply the same project, reimagined, re-recorded and re-everythinged? Given Devin’s fast-working brain we wouldn’t be surprised either way, so we’ve reached out to his publicist for clarification.

Either way, this much we know: Devin is working with acclaimed producer GGGarth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine, Mudvayne, Nickelback, etc.) at The Farm Studios in Vancouver, BC on Lightwork, and that album will ostensibly come out in spring 2022, the same time Devin will tour Europe. New Devin music is always a-ok by us no matter what it’s called or how it’s released!

Dates for that trek are below, and tickets can be ordered here starting on June 14.

Devin recently released two live albums. Devolution Series #1, which came out in March, featured an acoustic performance captured in Leeds, England in 2019. The second, titled Devolution Series #2 – Galactic Quarantine, consists of a quarantine show that aired on September 5, 2020, featuring the all-star band lineup that Devin had planned to take out on the road in Europe last year: Wes Hauch (Alluvial, ex-The Faceless, ex-Black Crown Initiate – guitar), Samus Paulicelli (Decrepit Birth – drums) and Liam Wilson (The Dillinger Escape Plan – bass).

We’ll update you on Lightwork as soon as we know more.

[via Ghost Cult Mag]

The post Devin Townsend Announces New Album, <em>Lightwork</em>, Reveals 2022 European Tour appeared first on MetalSucks.

Code Orange and The Smashing Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan are in the studio together.

The band and Corgan made the revelation on social media over the weekend, sharing the above photo.

“Excited to share I’ve been working with Code Orange on some of their blistering new songs,” Corgan said in his post.

The PRP notes that bode Code Orange and The Smashing Pumpkins “both bands share the same management in Velvet Hammer.”

You can see both Code Orange’s post and Corgan’s post below.

Code Orange will be part of Slipknot’s upcoming Knotfest Roadshow tour alongside Killswitch Engage and Fever 333. Dates are as follows:

Sep. 25 – Des Moines, IA – National Balloon Classic Field (Knotfest Iowa) [tickets]
Sep. 28 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre [tickets]
Sep. 29 – Milwaukee, WI – American Family Insurance Amphitheater [tickets]
Oct. 01 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center [tickets]
Oct. 02 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre [tickets]
Oct. 03 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Amphitheater [tickets]
Oct. 05 – Syracuse, NY – Lakeview Amphitheater – Syracuse [tickets]
Oct. 08 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center [tickets]
Oct. 09 – Hartford, CT – XFINITY Theatre [tickets]
Oct. 10 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center [tickets]
Oct. 12 – Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion [tickets]
Oct. 13 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live [tickets]
Oct. 15 – Burgettstown, PA – S&T Bank Music Park [tickets]
Oct. 17 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion [tickets]
Oct. 19 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre [tickets]
Oct. 20 – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre [tickets]
Oct. 22 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek [tickets]
Oct. 23 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre [tickets]
Oct. 24 – Pelham, AL – Oak Mountain Amphitheatre [tickets]
Oct. 26 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP [tickets]
Oct. 28 – Del Valle, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater [tickets]
Oct. 29 – The Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (no Code Orange) [tickets]
Oct. 30 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion [tickets]
Nov. 01 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater [tickets]
Nov. 02 – Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin Pavilion [tickets]

The post Code Orange Are in the Studio With Billy Corgan appeared first on MetalSucks.

Official press release:

Chicago’s Yakuza will begin recording their long-awaited, as-yet-untitled new studio album!  

The band will enter Palisades Studio with engineer Sanford Parker (Yob, Voivod) later this month. The recording will be completed and mixed at Parker’s own Hypercube Studios. Set for worldwide release in the Spring of 2022, the record follows their critically lauded Beyul full-length (2012) and marks Yakuza’s first official studio output in ten years! 

Offers vocalist/saxophonist Bruce Lamont: 

“Ten years! You would think that a bunch has changed, Well, some has and some hasn’t. The shronky, heavy, hairpin tempo shifts are still there, now add more bottom end thanks to current bassist Jerome Marshall. This new batch of tunes is a nice mix of weird and riffy and we couldn’t be happier with how everything has come together.” 

Adds bassist Jerome Marshall:

“It’s a return to form from the origins of where the band began. A return to post-metal, avant-garde jazz-influenced heavy chaos with the structural balance of intrinsic order.”  

The record will be released in North America via Lamont and Parker’s joint imprint, War Crime Recordings, with Svart Recordings handling Europe and beyond. 

In related news, War Crime Recordings will reissue the Yakuza back catalog on a limited-edition LP throughout the coming months. First up is 2012’s Beyul which has never before been available on vinyl.  

Comments Lamont:

“We over at War Crime Recordings have had a plan for a number of years to reissue all the Yakuza LPs that haven’t seen the light day and then reissue the ones that have. Beyul was an obvious first choice. Originally released back in 2012 through Profound Lore, this reissue is a single LP gatefold edition. The mastering for the LP was done back in 2012 by Colin Jordon and we couldn’t be happier with the result. Next up…Way of the Dead!” 

Limited to 200 copies on translucent brown vinyl, order Beyul here. 

Yakuza is:

• James Staffel – drums 
• Matt Mcclelland – guitar, vocals 
• Jerome Marshall – bass, vocals
• Bruce Lamont – vocals, saxophones

The post Yakuza To Begin Recording First New Studio Album in Ten Years appeared first on MetalSucks.

Limp Bizkit have not yet completed their long-teased new album, Stampede of the Disco Elephants, because the music doesn’t hold up to frontman Fred Durst’s lofty standards.

This according to the band’s guitarist, Wes Borland, in a new interview with Drinks with Johnny, the YouTube show hosted by Avenged Sevenfold bassist Johnny Christ (via The PRP):

“We’ve probably, in the last 10 years, been in the studio to try and complete the record, I wanna say, seven times, to different studios. And we’ve been working on stuff, working on stuff, working on stuff. And Fred [Durst, Limp Bizkit frontman] has been consistently kind of unsatisfied with where vision is, I guess. So we’ve released singles — like we did ‘Ready to Go,’ and we did another single called ‘Endless Slaughter’ that we put out…

“We probably have 35 songs recorded instrumentally, and he’s done vocals on them and then thrown the vocals away — done vocals and then [gone], ‘Fuck this,’ [and] thrown it away. So I think he’s finally at the point now where he’s gonna pick a set of these songs that he’s finally cool with and finish ’em and we’re gonna finish the record. So, fingers crossed.”

Borland continued:

“I’m not in charge of Freds’s vocals… I’m way done with my parts on the record. I’m sure I’ll go back in and play a little bit more after. But it’s fucking Fred Durst. He went from being a darling to everybody’s most hated person in the world. We broke up as a band. He’s tried to find his footing, I think, on a bunch of these songs. He’s so talented, and I love him so much as a brother, but if he’s not ready to do it, he’s not ready to do it…

“My whole thing is I force things, but I’m happy to make mistakes and get embarrassed and go, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have done that.’ But I just like to put stuff out. But he’s a perfectionist, so we’ll see when he’s ready to do it. I doubt it’ll be called Stampede of the Disco Elephants at that point. I will definitely say that the riffs and the music, it’s the best stuff I’ve ever done as a musician, I think.

“I’m so pleased with the direction the music went, and I love what we did as a band. And I’ve heard a bunch of his, sort of, demoed vocals over the stuff, and they’re great. So I have no doubt that he’s gonna come and bring it and it’s gonna be a great record.”

You can listen to the entire interview below.

Limp Bizkit’s last studio album, Gold Cobra, was released in 2011.

Limp Bizkit recently announced new tour dates with Spiritbox. Those are as follows:

07/29 Chicago, IL – Metro [tickets]
08/02 Clive, IA – Horizon Event Center [tickets]
08/05 Wallingford, CT – The Dome at Oakdale [tickets]
08/06 Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony Summer Stage [tickets]
08/09 Buffalo, NY – Rapids Theatre [tickets]
08/12 Gilford, NG – Bank Of New Hampshire Pavilion [tickets]
08/13 New York, NY – Irving Plaza [tickets]
08/15 Huntington, NY – The Paramount [tickets]
08/16 Norfolk, VA – The Norva [tickets]
08/19 Lincoln, NE – Centennial Mall & Street [tickets]
08/21 Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater [tickets]
08/24 Los Angeles, CA – Palladium [tickets]

Additionally, the band has announced two U.K. shows for next year:

07/22/22 Manchester, UK – Academy [tickets]
07/24/22 London, UK – O2 Academy Brixton [tickets]

The post Wes Borland Says Limp Bizkit Can’t Finish Their New Album Because It’s Not up To Fred Durst’s Standards appeared first on MetalSucks.

Those hoping for clarity on the bizarre Queensryche membership situation will get just a bit of that from an update yesterday indicating the band are in the recording studio.

To recap: estranged drummer Scott Rockenfield, who took paternity leave from the band in 2017 then all but entirely disappeared from the public eye, reemerged earlier this year with a new website, Queensryche2021.com, that had vocalist Todd La Torre and guitarist Parker Lundgren cropped out of a band photo (the band’s official channels made no mention of the site). La Torre and Rockenfield passive-aggressively sparred publicly before the band played their first show since the pandemic, which included La Torre but no Lundgren, and Casey Grillo on drums (he’s been filling in live since Rockenfield’s hiatus began).

Now, in a new post on the band’s official social media channels, a photo shows La Torre and founding guitarist Michael Wilton with producer Zeuss “taking a break” from the studio. This is good news because a) new Queensryche music is in the works, duh, and b) it means Wilton’s status in the band is not in question, despite Rockenfield’s inclusion of him on his rogue website.

Unfortunately there are still a couple of things we don’t know: who’s playing drums? and is Lundgren involved?

Presumably we’ll have those answers soon enough. In the meantime, Rockenfield’s Queensryche2021.com has gotten an overhaul — no more cropped band photo — but it still looks just as makeshift.

Former Queensryche vocalist Geoff Tate, who split from the band in 2012, said in a 2019 interview that he believed Rockenfield and the band were embroiled in a lawsuit, then in 2020 he said the drummer has “a lot of medical problems.” There has been no confirmation of either of those assertions.

You’ll know more when we do!

[via Metal Insider]

The post Queensryche: In the Studio appeared first on MetalSucks.

Dave Mustaine has raised his price on Cameo AGAIN. As of this writing, his fee on the platform — which lets fans purchase personalized video messages from celebrities — is up to $350 a pop. That’s a $50 increase from just a few days ago, and the fourth increase overall in the six days since the Megadeth mastermind first joined the service.

And honestly, assuming he does a better job than Vince Neil, that doesn’t seem that bad to me. Like, if you have a bud who fucking LOVES Megadeth, and a few friends all chip in and get said bud a personalized video message from Dave Mustaine for his birthday, that bud would probably be over the moon, and the whole thing still cost less than a ticket to see Kiss from less than 3,000 rows away from the stage.

And now that Mustaine is giving out hot goss as part of his videos? Shit, dude! You can’t say the guy is stiffing his fans.

To wit: Blabbermouth reports that in a recent Mustaine Cameo video (below) that someone named David bought for someone named Tina, Mustaine revealed that ‘Deth have completed re-recording David Ellefson’s bass parts for their new album, which is tentatively titled The Sick, the Dying and the Dead. He also teased a song from that record:

 “I hear you’re a big pretty fan of [the Megadeth song] ‘Fatal Illusion’ right now. That’s cool. Actually, we’ve got one song on the new album — it’s called ‘The Dogs of Chernobyl’ — which is very similar to ‘Fatal Illusion’ in aggression. So I hope you like that song when you get the new record. It won’t be long. It’s a matter of finishing the parts when I get home [to Tennessee from vacationing in Florida] today and tomorrow. Our bass parts are all done. And it won’t be long.”

(Incidentally, there really is a problem with stray dogs at Chernobyl. I dunno if the song is gonna use that fact as a metaphor or if it’s really just about poor radioactive puppies.)

Alas, Mustaine didn’t go so far as to say who re-recorded Ellefson’s parts, and whether that person will just be a session player or part of their upcoming tour with Lamb of God or their new permanent bassist or what. Presumably, Mustaine is saving that information for when his price gets up to $400. At least we know it’s not Jason Newsted or Billy Sheehan.

Ellefson was publicly let go from Megadeth on May 24 (but actually sacked on May 14) after videos recorded without his consent showed him masturbating during a video chat with a woman other than his wife. Initial accusations that the woman was underage, that Ellefson “groomed” her and the relationship was not consensual were rebuffed both by Ellefson and the woman herself. In his statement dismissing Ellefson from the group, Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine indicated that there were also unrelated factors involved in his dismissal, citing “an already strained relationship.” Mustaine first announced that Ellefson’s parts for the new Megadeth album would be re-recorded last month.

Ellefson has since filed a police report in Scottsdale, AZ seeking evenge porn charges against the video leaker (not his video partner), whose identity has not been made public.

The Megadeth/Lamb of God tour, which will also feature Trivium and In Flames, commences in August. Here are the dates:

8/20 Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater [tickets]
8/21 Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory [tickets]
8/22 Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion [tickets]
8/24 El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center [tickets]
8/25 Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater [tickets]
8/27 Denver, CO @ Ball Arena [tickets]
8/29 Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Federal Theatre [tickets]
8/31 Reno, NV @ Reno Events Center [tickets]
9/1 Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre [tickets]
9/2 Concord, CA @ Concord Pavilion [tickets]
9/4 Portland, OR @ Moda Center [tickets]
9/5 Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre [tickets]
9/9 Tinley Park, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago [tickets]
9/11 Danville, VA @ Blue Ridge Festival [tickets]
9/12 Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater [tickets]
9/13 Boston, MA @ Leader Bank Pavilion [tickets]
9/15 Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion [tickets]
9/16 Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center [tickets]
9/18 Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center [tickets]
9/19 Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre [tickets]
9/20 Cincinnati, OH @ PNC Pavilion [tickets]
9/22 Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP [tickets]
9/24 Mount Pleasant, MI @ Soaring Eagle Casino Amphitheatre [tickets]
9/26 St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis [tickets]
9/28 Minneapolis, MN @ Armory [tickets]
9/30 Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage [tickets]
10/1 Laval, QC @ Place Bell [tickets]
10/2 Quebec City, QC @ Centre Videotron [tickets]

The post Megadeth Completes Re-Recording David Ellefson’s Parts for Their New Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Five Finger Death Punch have entered the Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas (I think) to commence recording their next sure-to-be-unbearbly-awful-but-commercially-successful album.

Bassist Davy Jones revealed the news on social media:

“One of the hardest working bands in the business working hard on album Number 9. Are y’all ready?”

A day after telling everyone how hard working FFDP are, however, the bassist shared photos of himself scuba diving in Hawaii. So they might not be in the studio? It’s a six-hour-plus flight from Vegas to Hawaii… is it possible Kael just went to Hawaii for the weekend?

Whatever the case may be, the new album is being produced by Kevin Churko, who has worked on all of the band’s albums since 2009’s War is Answer. He’s also worked with creative behemoths like Disturbed and Hinder, and produced all the best Ozzy records, like Black Rain and Scream.

The upcoming album will Fiver Finger Death Punch’s ninth… but in May, they also announced that they’ll be re-recording their 2007 debut, The Foot Fist Way. I guess they feel like they have new, innovative ways to make that shit even shittier.

Both releases will probably be out next year, which leaves me ample time to get run over by a bus before I have to hear them.

[via]

The post Five Finger Death Punch Recording Terrible New Music, Re-Recording Terrible Old Music appeared first on MetalSucks.

Back in August of last year, during what felt like Peak Pandemic but ended up being just the beginning, Trivium shocked the metal world by announcing they’d purchased an abandoned airplane hangar they planned to renovate into an all-encompassing band headquarters, complete with rehearsal space, recording studio, live performance venue, storage and everything else the band could possibly need. While the news was a bit jarring to the system due its outsize nature, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who thought it was a bad idea… on the contrary, it was pretty much universally heralded as a brilliant investment.

Nearly a year post-purchase, the band is now well into the renovation process, which they’re planning in stages they estimate to take several years, and they’ve shared some photos of the progress on social media. The new snaps show a mostly-completed rehearsal space lofted above the main hangar floor as well as a storage room below it housing quite an impressive array of gear (this space will purportedly turn into a studio eventually). We also get a look at the front of the hangar where the live performance space will be.

And it all looks dope as hell. Can you imagine being a part of this process? Trivium are basically building the ultimate treehouse / clubhouse / hang zone / mancave we’ve all been dreaming of since little kids and continue to fantasize about to this day. It’s their reality. Amazing!

Have a look at the pics in the slider below.

The post Trivium Share New Construction Photos of Airplane Hangar Band HQ appeared first on MetalSucks.

“I wanted to let you know I’ve extended my account on Cameo,” Dave Mustaine says in a new video, “because I’ve been having such a great time connecting with all of you and answering your questions.” Which I think is a very nice way of saying “I’m making good money with this thing so let’s keep it goin’.”

Hey, fine by me! Mustaine’s Cameo videos continue to be the #1 source of intel on Megadeth’s new album, The Sick, The Dying and The Dead.

For example: we know the new Megadeth album is called The Sick, The Dying and The Dead because, after first floating it as a tentative title in January, Mustaine confirmed it via — you guessed it! — a Cameo video. That same video also contained a brief sample a music from the album.

Which brings us back to this new video announcing that Mustaine will continue to accept payment to congratulate your friend on successfully completing their court-mandated driving classes. It contains a much clearer, albeit equally brief, sample of The Sick, The Dying, and The Dead.

All my ribbing aside, the riff we can to hear in this clip sounds very promising. If the whole record sounds like this, we’ll have another winner on our hands.

You can check out the video below. Skip to around the 22 second mark if you just wanna hear the music.

Go here to hire Dave Mustaine to applaud your kid’s recent Certificate of Attendance for the fifth grade.

Megadeth have been re-recording the album’s bass parts following the dismissal of David Ellefson earlier this year. The band’s new bassist is rumored to be Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Testament, Obituary, etc.), but that has yet to be confirmed.

Megadeth begin a tour with Lamb of God, Trivium, and Hatebreed (replacing In Flames) in August, so we should know what’s what sooner rather than later.

Here are those tour dates:

8/20 Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater [tickets]
8/21 Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory [tickets]
8/22 Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion [tickets]
8/24 El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center [tickets]
8/25 Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater [tickets]
8/27 Denver, CO @ Ball Arena [tickets]
8/29 Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Federal Theatre [tickets]
8/31 Reno, NV @ Reno Events Center [tickets]
9/1 Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre [tickets]
9/2 Concord, CA @ Concord Pavilion [tickets]
9/4 Portland, OR @ Moda Center [tickets]
9/5 Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre [tickets]
9/9 Tinley Park, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago [tickets]
9/11 Danville, VA @ Blue Ridge Festival [tickets]
9/12 Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater [tickets]
9/13 Boston, MA @ Leader Bank Pavilion [tickets]
9/15 Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion [tickets]
9/16 Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center [tickets]
9/18 Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center [tickets]
9/19 Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre [tickets]
9/20 Cincinnati, OH @ PNC Pavilion [tickets]
9/22 Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP [tickets]
9/24 Mount Pleasant, MI @ Soaring Eagle Casino Amphitheatre [tickets]
9/26 St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis [tickets]
9/28 Minneapolis, MN @ Armory [tickets]
9/30 Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage [tickets]
10/1 Laval, QC @ Place Bell [tickets]
10/2 Quebec City, QC @ Centre Videotron [tickets]

[via]

The post Dave Mustaine Shares Another Sample From the New Megadeth Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Light up that celebratory bonfire: death metal legends Immolation are in the studio working on their eleventh full-length studio album.

We know this because the band recently shared a pair of studio photos on social media, along with this message:

“It has begun…”

You can view the post below. The pictures tell you nothing about the band’s new material, of course, but on the other hand, they do tell you that Immolation have a great feel for mood lighting.

Immolation’s last album, Atonement, came out in 2017.

The post Immolation Immolating the Studio appeared first on MetalSucks.

Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine has shared a video of himself performing the “last vocal take” on the band’s new album, The Sick, The Dying, and The Dead. It’s not as exciting as that absolute RIPPER of a riff Mustaine shared last week — I don’t think Dave is anyone’s favorite singer — but, hey, it’s still something!

You can watch the video below.

Megadeth have been re-recording the album’s bass parts following the dismissal of David Ellefson earlier this year. The band’s new bassist is rumored to be Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Testament, Obituary, etc.), but that has yet to be confirmed.

Megadeth begin a tour with Lamb of God, Trivium, and Hatebreed (replacing In Flames) in August, so we should know what’s what sooner rather than later.

Here are those tour dates:

8/20 Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater [tickets]
8/21 Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory [tickets]
8/22 Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion [tickets]
8/24 El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center [tickets]
8/25 Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater [tickets]
8/27 Denver, CO @ Ball Arena [tickets]
8/29 Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Federal Theatre [tickets]
8/31 Reno, NV @ Reno Events Center [tickets]
9/1 Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre [tickets]
9/2 Concord, CA @ Concord Pavilion [tickets]
9/4 Portland, OR @ Moda Center [tickets]
9/5 Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre [tickets]
9/9 Tinley Park, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago [tickets]
9/11 Danville, VA @ Blue Ridge Festival [tickets]
9/12 Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater [tickets]
9/13 Boston, MA @ Leader Bank Pavilion [tickets]
9/15 Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion [tickets]
9/16 Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center [tickets]
9/18 Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center [tickets]
9/19 Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre [tickets]
9/20 Cincinnati, OH @ PNC Pavilion [tickets]
9/22 Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP [tickets]
9/24 Mount Pleasant, MI @ Soaring Eagle Casino Amphitheatre [tickets]
9/26 St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis [tickets]
9/28 Minneapolis, MN @ Armory [tickets]
9/30 Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage [tickets]
10/1 Laval, QC @ Place Bell [tickets]
10/2 Quebec City, QC @ Centre Videotron [tickets]

The post Here’s Your First Taste of the Vocals on the New Megadeth Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Animals as Leaders mastermind Tosin Abasi has finished tracking guitars for the band’s next album, which will be their first since The Madness of Many, released in 2016.

How do we know? Tosin himself announced as much via Instagram along with a video clip of him tapping through what he says is the very final guitar part put to tape. He captioned the video as follows:

“Finished tracking everything for the next @animalsasleaders album last night! Pretty fitting that this was the last guitar part‍ It’s also my new ring tone

“Also, how sick is this Capri orange j-Larada ”

Abasi and his old pal and collaborator, Periphery’s Misha Mansoor, were working on new Animals as Leaders music together as of September 2020. Mansoor also contributed to AAL’s self-titled 2009 debut and The Joy of Motion (2014).

Have a look at the clip of Tosin tappety-tapping below. With a mix and master yet to be done, and current vinyl production lead times at 8-10 months, we not see a new album until the middle of 2022. We will, of course, keep you posted.

The post Animals as Leaders Finish Tracking New Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Fans concerned about Ozzy Osbourne’s ongoing health woes can rest a little easier knowing that the Prince of Darkness is taking full advantage of the down time, continuing to work on the follow-up to his widely loved 2020 comeback album, Ordinary Man.

Ozzy’s new record is once against being produced by Andrew Watts (Post Malone), who was also at the helm for Ordinary Man. That album had some notable guest contributors, including Elton John, Slash (Guns N’ Roses), Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses), and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers).

The new Ozzy record will once again feature Smith on drums, as well as drummer Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) and bassist Robert Trujillo (Metallica). Longtime Ozzy collaborator and sideman Zakk Wylde will also participate in some capacity (he did not appear on Ordinary Man at all), as will Ozzy’s former Black Sabbath bandmate, Tony Iommi, iconic guitarist Jeff Beck and iconic guitarist/total dipshit Eric Clapton.

Now, speaking to Metal Hammer, Ozzy revealed that 15 songs are nearing completion in the studio, adding:

“It’s going to be similar in tone to ‘Ordinary Man’ but I can’t describe it completely. I’ve not heard it for a while because it keeps going over to the next person to add their parts – we’re fucking around with it all the time.”

Ozzy recently revealed that he will once again undergo surgery to help correct injuries to his neck and back that he suffered during a 2019 fall. He is also fighting Parkinson’s disease.

Ozzy is currently celebrating the 30th anniversary of No More Tears with some special edition reissues including some previously unreleased tracks like this version of “Hellraiser” featuring a duet with co-writer Lemmy Kilmister.

Upcoming Ozzy live dates:

Jan. 26 – Germany – Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena [tickets]
Jan. 28 – Czech Republic – Prague O2 Arena [tickets]
Jan. 31 – Switzerland – Zurich Hallenstadion [tickets]
Feb. 02 – Hungary – Budapest Budapest Arena (no Judas Priest) [tickets]
Feb. 05 – Spain – Madrid WiZink Center [tickets]
Feb. 08 – Italy – Bologna Unipol Arena [tickets]
Feb. 11 – Germany – Mannheim SAP Arena [tickets]
Feb. 14 – Germany – Hamburg Barclaycard Arena [tickets]
Feb. 17 – Finland – Helsinki Hartwall Arena [tickets]
Feb. 19 – Sweden – Stockholm Friends Arena [tickets]
Feb. 21 – Germany – Dortmund Westfalenhalle [tickets]
Feb. 24 – Germany – Munich Olympiahalle [tickets]
Feb. 27 – UK – Nottingham Motorpoint Arena [tickets]
Mar. 01 – Ireland – Dublin 3Arena [tickets]
Mar. 04 – UK – Birmingham Resorts World Arena [tickets]
Mar. 07 – UK – London The O2 [tickets]
Mar. 09 – UK – Manchester AO Arena [tickets]
Mar. 12 – UK – Newcastle Utilita Arena [tickets]
Mar. 14 – UK – Glasgow The SSE Hydro [tickets]

The post Ozzy Osbourne Has 15 Songs Recorded for Next Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

In May of 2020, in the still-very-scary early days of the pandemic, Veil of Maya guitarist Marc Okubo told The MetalSucks Quarantinecast that eight songs were mostly written and recorded for the band’s next album, which he expected out in early 2021, adding that “heavy is the move” as far as the new material’s sonic direction. If a new album were still coming out this year we’d know by now, so needless to say it ain’t. (The band did release two standalone singles, “Viscera” and “Outrun.”)

Now, in a brief Twitter post, Okubo has revealed that the band decided to scrap an entire album, blaming an unspecified person for tainting the material:

“We made a new album in 2019. Because of the actions of certain individuals, it left a bad taste in our mouth and we didn’t think it was worth salvaging. We have deleted the majority of it and have been recording material that we are more happy with. Now we’re on tour.”

It’s worth noting that Veil of Maya have not undergone any member changes since 2014. Perhaps something is amiss within the band’s business team, or recording personnel, or maybe a member of the band went through a nasty break-up… who knows! But that’s a helluva tease for Marc to drop without expecting any follow-up questions (which journalists will surely give him when it comes time for press on the eventual new album).

A few minutes after the above tweet, Okubo responded to a fan who asked if the two singles the band put out earlier this year were part of the eventual new album or not, and he responded, “A little of both. We will see what happens next” along with a winky emoji.

Veil of Maya are currently out with Dance Gavin Dance and Polyphia. Remaining dates:

10/12 – Dallas, TX @ Bomb Factory [tickets]
10/13 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live [tickets]
10/14 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live [tickets]
10/15 – San Antonio, TX @ Vibes Event Center [tickets]
10/16 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion [tickets]
10/18 – Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey Theater [tickets]
10/19 – Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee [tickets]
10/20 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl [tickets]

The post Veil of Maya Scrapped Entire New Album They Recorded in 2019 appeared first on MetalSucks.

Five Finger Death Punch frontman Ivan Moody has shared a clip from the studio, where the band is currently working on their ninth album. The clip includes seventeen seconds of new FFDP music. That’s one second for each of Moody’s I.Q. points!

You can listen below if Five Finger Death Punch is your thing.

FFDP’s new album is being produced by Kevin Churko, who has worked on all of the band’s albums since 2009’s War is Answer. He’s also worked with creative behemoths like Disturbed and Hinder, and produced all the best Ozzy records, like Black Rain and Scream.

This past May, the band announced that also they’ll be re-recording their 2007 debut, The Way of the Fist. Yippee.

[via]

The post Listen to 17 Seconds of New Five Finger Death Punch Music appeared first on MetalSucks.

Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner, who only three months ago suffered a cardiac event on stage that ended up requiring emergency surgery, just laid down a guest guitar solo for Demon Hunter’s upcoming album.

Demon Hunter’s next album will be called Exile and is slated for release at some point in 2022.

Faulkner underwent ten hours of open heart surgery after first feeling ill on stage at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, what was later diagnosed as an aortic aneurysm and dissection. “From what I’ve been told by my surgeon,” Faulkner said in a statement of the condition, “people with this don’t usually make it to the hospital alive.”

He has since posted a series of updates indicating his recovery is on track, and a couple of weeks ago livestreamed a solo jam session.

The post Video: Judas Priest Guitarist Rips a Guitar Solo for Demon Hunter’s New Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows says the band plans to put the finishing touches on their next record beginning in January.

Speaking to Loudwire, Shadows explained the band’s reluctance to play shows during the pandemic before segueing into the status of their next album, which will be their first since The Stage came out in 2016. He said:

“It’s just that we have to be very careful about getting everything going, building a whole new stage set, hiring everybody, renting buses and then having one person get sick and the tour gets canceled and we get to be on the hook for everything. And it’s not that we don’t wanna do it.

“People compare us to bands that are going and playing clubs. It’s not the same thing. Getting an arena tour going and playing these festivals, it’s just not the same thing. And also we wanna be mentally ready.

“These are all gonna sound like crazy excuses, but these are real. We have a huge stage that we wanna get built. We can’t get people to work. We can’t get the supplies we need to build it, which there’s a supply chain problem as well. Go look at the Long Beach, at the port right now, and these boats are just stuck out there. And so we have all these things going on where we’re not gonna come back on stage and have the stage from ‘The Stage’ record and then just go, ‘Well, same show four years later. Sorry, guys. The record’s not done ’cause we couldn’t finish it.’

“So, I would just say starting in January, we are gonna put our nose to the grind and we are gonna finish this record. And then we’re doing a couple of shows in Europe. And then I would love to — and I don’t wanna step on [festival organizer] Danny Wimmer’s toes here — but I would love to start at Aftershock [festival in October 2022] and then book a tour out from there.

“So, we’re gonna be doing stuff. But, yeah, it’s just kind of making sure we’re mentally there and we put our best foot forward when we do come out and make sure that it’s all good.”

Shadows revealed in November that, among other album-related delays, Covid-19 had prevented an orchestra from gathering in person to record. But “the songs are done,” he added, explaining that he still had some vocals to lay down in addition to the missing orchestral parts.

Shadows previously stated his position that the band isn’t going to release new music and tour until it’s 100% clear they can do so without hindrance from pandemic-related snafus, adding that everyone in the band needs to be in the right mind-frame. 

At this point, late 2022 seems like the earliest new Avenged Sevenfold will arrive.

[via Blabbermouth]

The post Avenged Sevenfold Aim to Finish New Album in January appeared first on MetalSucks.

In a new interview, Dj Ashba — former guitarist for Beautiful Creatures and Neil Diamond, Slash cosplayer, and purveyor of klutz-proof water — claims that he, and not Mick Mars, recorded all the rhythm guitars for Mötley Crüe’s 2008 album, Saints of Los Angeles.

Ashba also plays in the band Sixx:A.M. with Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx, and was credited with “co-production and additional engineering” on Saints of Los Angeles.

Ashba tells Eddie Trunk:

“I played all the rhythms on [Saints of Los Angeles]. But Mick was awesome. Mick was actually in the hospital at the time.”

I obviously have no idea if this is true or not. But there are some things I think are worth noting here:

i) It’s not at all uncommon for one member of a band to record all of their guitar parts (and sometimes the bass, too!), ’cause it’s easier to get one person to match their own playing than to try to get someone else to get in the groove. For example, all the guitars on Slayer’s albums, save for the solos, were recorded by Kerry King. This situation is a little more unusual because Ashba isn’t credited with contributing guitars to the album; but if we learned that Nikki Sixx had recorded all of Saints‘ rhythm guitars, it would really be NBD.

ii) This isn’t the first time there have been rumors of the Crüe bringing in a session musician — the unsubstantiated story for years has been that Josh Freese, and not Tommy Lee, recorded the drums for 2005’s “If I Die Tomorrow.” (Now if only they could bring in someone to sing for Vince Neil!)

iii) Ashba is a tireless self-promoter who thinks very highly of himself –which is to say, it’s entirely possible he’s full of shit. I mean, he might not be. But if the idea of him playing on the worst Mötley Crüe album (yes, it’s worse than New Tattoo and Generation Swine) bothers you THAT much, take comfort knowing he’s an unreliable narrator.

Mötley Crüe will tour with Def Leppard, Poison, and Ted Nugent’s favorite guitarist this summer.

[via]

The post Mötley Crüe: Dj Ashba Says He Recorded All the Rhythm Guitars on <em>Saints of Los Angeles</em> appeared first on MetalSucks.

Machine Head have launched a video series giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at the making of their new album.

The first episode, which focuses on Machine Head mastermind Robb Flynn recording guitars with producer Zack Ohren (All Shall Perish, Cattle Decapitation, etc.) can be viewed below. And to answer your most pressing question — yes, it does contain some samples of heavy new Machine Head riffage.

Also worth noting: this was filmed in June of last year, and in December, drummer Navene Koperweis (Entheos, ex-Animals as Leaders, Animosity) posted a photo from the studio along with the caption “That’s a wrap!” Point being, if a) they’ve been recording since at least last summer and b) they’re now releasing promotional videos, the album is probably closer to release than we’d realized. In fact, I’m gonna go ahead and recklessly speculate that there will be a new Machine Head album this summer. (Please note I am totally hypothesizing there. I have no insider info. K? K great.)

And with that out of the way — enjoy:

The post Machine Head Launch Video Chronicling the Making of Their New Album appeared first on MetalSucks.

Great news for fans of Swedish metal that’s highly influenced by ’70s proto-metal: Ghost’s forthcoming album, Impera, will feature longtime Opeth guitarist Fredrik Åkesson.

Ghost mastermind Tobias “Papa Emeritus” Forge revealed the news as part of a new interview with Full Metal Jackie:

Your creative process is often to collaborate on songwriting then, in the studio, perform much of it yourself. What’s the benefit to working at both ends of that creative spectrum?

It enables me to have something similar to a perspective slightly objective that way because I’m a little bit of a jack of all trades when it comes to actual playing. I’m an able drummer, a bass player, an able guitar player, but I’m not a virtuoso.

This time around, I actually had another guitar player coming in, mounting the massive work of actually redoing everything. I’ve played guitar all my life, but, unlike most guitar players who are in successful bands, they play as they tour. I am doing a whole slew of other things, so, it almost feels like every time I saw start writing again, and demoing and doing pre-production, I quickly have to go up to par again.

On, tour for example, I mostly play drums, actually, in a rehearsal room in the back that we usually do as a warm up. Part of my daily exercises, I play drums for an hour, but I tend to forget to play guitar. When making this record, the demos dictates what to play — you can always figure that out and there’s always ways to redo, undo and piece things together.

But when it came to actually performing, I had a friend of mine, Fredrik Åkesson, the guitar player from Opeth. He’s the sort of person who plays five hours every day. He’s so amazingly talented. He can play circles around anything that I put on tape and he can do it with flair.

Åkesson joined Opeth in 2007, and has played on all of their albums since Watershed. Lest you still doubt his bona fides, he’s also been a live member of Arch Enemy and Tiamat. There’s no reason to believe his work on Impera will be anything less than stellar.

Impera comes out on March 11 via Loma Vista Recordings; pre-order here. You can check out the first single, “Call Me Little Sunshine,” here. 

Ghost + Volbeat U.S. co-headline tour dates:

Jan. 25 – Reno, NV – Reno Events Center [tickets]
Jan. 27 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena [tickets]
Jan. 28 – Nampa, ID – Ford Idaho Center Arena [tickets]
Jan. 29 – Portland, OR – Veterans Memorial Coliseum [tickets]
Jan. 31 – West Valley City, UT – Maverik Center [tickets]
Feb. 02 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena [tickets]
Feb. 04 – Lincoln, NE – Pinnacle Bank Arena [tickets]
Feb. 05 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center [tickets]
Feb. 07 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena [tickets]
Feb. 08 – Hershey, PA – GIANT Center [tickets]
Feb. 10 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center [tickets]
Feb. 11 – Worcester, MA – DCU Center [tickets]
Feb. 12 – Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion [tickets]
Feb. 14 – Pittsburgh, PA – Petersen Events Center [tickets]
Feb. 15 – Toledo, OH – Huntington Center [tickets]
Feb. 16 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena [tickets]
Feb. 18 – Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena [tickets]
Feb. 19 – Cincinnati, OH – Heritage Bank Center [tickets]
Feb. 20 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum [tickets]
Feb. 21 – St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena [tickets]
Feb. 23 – Independence, MO – Cable Dahmer Arena [tickets]
Feb. 25 – Houston, TX – Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land [tickets]
Feb. 26 – Dallas, TX – Fair Park Coliseum [tickets]
Feb. 28 – El Paso, TX – Don Haskins Center [tickets]
Mar. 01 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center [tickets]
Mar. 03 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center [tickets]

Europe and U.K. tour dates with Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats and Twin Temple:

04/09 Manchester, UK – Arena
04/11 London, UK -O2 Arena
04/13 Glasgow, UK -Hydro
04/15 Birmingham, UK -RWA Arena
04/17 Rotterdam, NET – RTM Stage Ahoy
04/18 Paris, FRA – Accor Arena
04/19 Cologne, GER – Lanxess Arena
04/21 Leipzig, GER – Quarterback Immobillen Arena
04/22 Frankfurt, GER – Festhalle
04/24 Prague, CZE – Arena
04/27 Tampere, FIN – Nokia Arena
04/29 Stockholm, SWE – Avicii Arena
04/30 Oslo, NOR – Spektrum
05/01 Malmo, SWE – Malmo Arena
05/03 Brussels, BEL – Forest
05/05 Milan, ITA – Mediolanum Forum
05/07 Barcelona, SPA – Olympic Arena Badalona
05/08 Madrid, SPA – Vistalegre Arena
05/11 Vienna, AUT – Stadthalle
05/13 Zurich, SWI – Hallenstadion
05/15 Hannover, GER – ZAG Arena
05/16 Munich, GER – Olympiahalle
05/18 Budapest, HUN – Arena

The post New Ghost Album to Feature Opeth Guitarist appeared first on MetalSucks.

For their 2013 album 13, Black Sabbath teamed up with renowned producer Rick Rubin, which many considered a huge flex. But now, Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has admitted that he didn’t care for working with Rubin, and that he basically thought Rubin’s involvement was one big publicity stunt.

As reported by Ultimate Classic Rock, Butler told Sirius XM that he thought that Rubin’s approach felt kind of unnecessary, and that his decision to bring in antique amps and try to ‘transport’ the band back to the ’70s was silly at best.

“Some of it I liked; some of it I didn’t like, particularly. It was a weird experience, especially with being told to forget that you’re a heavy metal band. That was the first thing [that Rubin] said to us. He played us our very first album, and he said, ‘Cast your mind back to then when there was no such thing as heavy metal or anything like that, and pretend it’s the follow-up album to that’ – which is a ridiculous thing to think.

“I still don’t know what he did. It’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s good. … No, don’t do that.’ And you go, ‘Why?’ ‘Just don’t do it.’ I think Ozzy one day went nuts. He’d done like 10 different vocals, and Rick kept saying, ‘Yeah, that’s great, but do another one.’ And Ozzy was, like, ‘If it’s great, why am I doing another one?’ He just lost it.

“He was making Tony get 1968 amps, as if that’s going to make it sound like back in 1968. It’s mad!…But it’s good for publicity and it’s good for the record company.”

Butler isn’t the only person to express such discontent — Slayer, Rubin’s big entryway into the metal world, also eventually stopped working with him because they claimed he basically would show up for a day and contribute little else to the process.

In any event, there you go — Rick Rubin’s a legend, but maybe not right for classic metal these days. Somehow, we imagine his career won’t be destroyed by this.

The post Geezer Butler Says Rick Rubin Told Black Sabbath to “Forget That [They Were] a Heavy Metal Band” appeared first on MetalSucks.

We’re not what you might consider typical Sevendust fans here at MetalSucks, but we can’t deny how much we enjoy that band’s music. And now, it looks like there’s about to be more to love, as the band have announced that they’re hitting the studio this summer.

According to a new interview with Anne Erickson at Audio Ink Radio (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), guitarist John Connolly said the following of the band’s status:

“We’re in demo mode right now. We’re gonna hit the studio in the summer. So, yeah, we’re working up as many new demos as we can. We started working with LJ [singer Lajon Witherspoon] [to] get the vocal process going. But, yeah, probably [in] July, August, [we’ll] hit the studio.”

When asked about the overall themes and feel of the record, Connolly said:

“It’s hard to say. It’s sort of very all over the place, in typical Sevendust fashion, until we really start to hone in and figure out what’s gonna make it and what’s not. We’re realists at this point. We know all the early stuff that we work on in the demo stage is either gonna be the first single or it’s probably never gonna see the light of day. So some of these songs are just a stepping stone to get to something cooler. It’s always exciting when you’re at this part of the process, ’cause you just don’t know. Sometimes you’ve gotta take a step back and go, ‘Okay, maybe we should listen to some of the stuff that was a couple of months ago’ before you find those special moments. But with everyone sort of diving into the Dropboxes and kind of picking their favorites and stuff like that, I would imagine probably within the next six weeks we’ll have a lot more of a shape and a sound. But, yeah, the vibe is just a big question mark. It’s a big, wide-open canvas right now, which is good, ’cause we’ve got tons of ideas to fill it with, for sure.”

You can check out the interview below, but keep your eyes peeled for new Sevendust in the future!

The post Sevendust Will Start Recording Their New Album This Summer appeared first on MetalSucks.

We’ve all been there. You’re working on a group project and everyone wants to include their ideas in the final product. It’s both a blessing and a curse to have multiple people invested in what you’re all doing. Now imagine that same problem, but with eight super passionate dudes that make loud music for a living — that’s what Jay Weinberg says it’s like to write as a member of Slipknot.

Speaking with Magenta Musik at Wacken this past weekend, the Slipknot-fan-turned-band-member said things often gets tense, but what comes out on the other end is better for it.

“We’re nine very passionate people about what we do, so when it comes to the creative side of things, you have nine creative voices shoehorning into a song.

“But, what I’m proud to say is that, at the end of the day, we all know each other’s strengths and what we bring to the table, and how we collaborate and respect one another in that way. And all of those things end up shining through.

By having nine very different people involved in the writing process, Weinberg said the band has the unique ability to draw on a wide range of influences. Those differences, he says, also show in how each member commits their parts to a song.

“Yeah, sure, we all have our ways of trying to carve something out of stone, to make it a song that we’re really proud of. And it takes a lot of work, for sure there’s creative tension, but that only makes for great art. The phrase ‘iron sharpens iron’ is really true for us. We want the best from each other, we want the best from ourselves, and I think that translates to what we’re able to do, whether that’s in the studio or live on stage.”

Earlier this month, the nine-piece put out the first single off their upcoming studio album The End So Far titled “Yen.” The track also has an accompanying music video, which we’ve posted below.

It won’t be long until we get to hear the result of all that “creative tension.” The End So Far is slated for a September 30 release and is currently available for preorder via Roadrunner.

Slipknot’s The End, So Far:

1. ADDERALL
2. THE DYING SONG (TIME TO SING)
3. THE CHAPELTOWN RAG
4. YEN
5. HIVEMIND
6. WARRANTY
7. MEDICINE FOR THE DEAD
8. ACIDIC
9. HEIRLOOM
10. H377
11. DE SADE
12. FINALE

The post Writing Music with Eight Other People Causes “Creative Tension,” Says Slipknot’s Jay Weinberg appeared first on MetalSucks.

There’s been a lot of talk about Anthrax‘s follow up to 2016’s For All Kings, with members of the band stating at various points that they’ve been in the studio doing the work. And while drummer Charlie Benante is off kicking ass with Pantera and guitarist Scott Ian has some upcoming Mr. Bungle dates, it apparently hasn’t been easy to get everyone in the studio at once.

During a recent appearance on Trunk Nation, Ian gave a progress report on the upcoming record. One key element of the process this go around, he said, was the fact that everyone has been making time to chip in when they can, regardless of whether they can make it out to the studio in Los Angeles or if they’re doing the work from home, as is the case with guitarist Jon Donais.

“We had a session here in L.A., Charlie [Benante, drums], Frankie [Bello, bass/vocals] and I tracked nine songs. I finished the guitars on those right before we went to New York—sometime in June, something like that. Frankie is currently in L.A. tracking bass on those songs…

“I’m going to the studio Friday, since I’ve had time, like a month to live with my guitar tracks, I’ve heard lots of things that I think are very cool to add, so I’m going in Friday to spend a day doing some overdubs. [Guitarist, Jon] Donais‘s already working on solos back East at his home studio and I am working on lyrics. So I think we’re well into it, let’s put it that way.

“There’s gonna be another recording session, October, maybe November—Charlie‘s got these two windows to get in because we have another four or five that we wanna track. And we’re hoping that if things just say on the very loose schedule we have I’d like to think that by Christmas/New Year’s we’ll have most of this wrapped up. Maybe not mixed, but certainly all recorded by then.”

“My goal is to have three songs ready for [Joey Belladonna] to sing on by next month. And then from there, Joey, it doesn’t take him very long. Once he kinda wraps his head around it and kinda runs it through his filter, he’s a fast worker. So once he starts it doesn’t take long.

“I think it’s more the onus on me of being happy with the lyrics I’m writing. I actually had three or four songs written months ago, and then I revisited them like a month ago and I threw ’em all in the garbage. I was just like ‘this is crap.’ But I’m in a much better place with that now.”

It’s exciting as hell to think we could potentially get a new batch of Anthrax music as soon as early next year, if all goes according to plan. Still, a lot goes into an album, so we’re a ways away from that becoming a reality. Here’s hoping we’ll hear something soon!

The post Scott Ian is Hopeful That Anthrax’s Next Album Will Be Done “By Christmas [or] New Year’s” appeared first on MetalSucks.

Get ready for more wild groove metal because Max Cavalera is working on a new Soulfly album. The controversial frontman and guitarist was recently a guest on the podcast Nu Pod with Joshua Toomey and Ro Kohli where he mentioned that he is working on writing Soulfly’s next record, which will be the 13^th album of the band’s storied career.

“I’m actually working on new Soulfly this year, writing and hopefully recording, but I don’t think it’s gonna come out until next year.”

He didn’t give much more in the way of details, but it does seem like the album will most likely take until at least next year before it sees the light of day. This will mark their follow-up to their 2022 album Totem, an album that was very well-received by critics even considering that the closing track was basically a 10-minute Cavalera family reunion.

With little information about the new Soulfly album forthcoming, the hosts instead took a detour and asked Cavalera if there would ever be any new releases for Cavalera’s project Nailbomb that he created with Fudge Tunnel’s Alex Newport. Nailbomb only released one studio album, Point Blank, in 1994. Cavalera said that he would love to return to Nailbomb since it would be really appropriate for today’s world, but admitted he would have to “do some Voodoo shit” to get Newport to come back to do another record. But Cavalera made it clear that he would be up for it.

Soulfly doesn’t have many tour dates coming up, but they will be playing the Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach on May 9 and the Sonic Temple Festival in Columbus on May 17.

The post Max Cavalera is Writing a New Soulfly Album appeared first on MetalSucks.