The REVOLVER GOLDEN GODS AWARDS SHOW presented by Epiphone®, America’s only hard-rock and heavy-metal awards show, has announced its return to Club Nokia in Downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, April 23. This years performers include Guns N’ Roses, Korn, Anthrax, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Pretty Reckless, Zakk Wylde, A Day To Remember and more to be announced! Tickets for the 2014 REVOLVER GOLDEN GODS AWARDS SHOW will be available starting Friday, February 28 at 10 AM ET at http://www.axs.com/events/248802. Details will be announced soon for fans at home to tune in and catch all of the action.
Thrash Metal legends, DESTRUCTION, hits the road in North America on March 18th! On this tour, you’ll have the opportunity to upgrade your ticket to get the VIP Experience! To purchase VIP upgrades and for complete tour schedule, click here: http://destruction.soundrink.com/
As reported on the Ronnie James Dio Facebook page:
We only have just a few more of the Special Fan Tickets left for $25 each for the Ronnie James Dio Tribute Album Party and Awards Gala in Hollywood, CA on March 17th! There will be Live performances by Halestorm, Corey Taylor, Jimmy Bain, Rowan Robertson, Brian Tichy, Oni Logan and an All-Star Jam! Rob Halford will also be on hand to accept a Special Award! You will not want to miss this once in a lifetime special VIP Event! Get your tickets here: http://tinyurl.com/oaeyyag
* For info on the Ronnie James Dio Tribute Album This Is Your Life, releasing on April 1st, 2014, via Rhino, click on the link below:
New album to feature guest appearances by Rodrigo y Gabriela, Alexi Laiho, Danko Jones and more; European tour with Gus G to kick off May 1st
____________________________
Widely respected as the most influential lead guitarist in Thrash Metal history, MARTY FRIEDMAN has confirmed the final track listing for “Inferno,” his first solo album of original material in four years, and his first recording in more than a decade that will be released worldwide simultaneously.
Due out in late May via Prosthetic Records (except in Japan, where the album will be released by Universal Music), “Inferno” – recorded primarily in Los Angeles with engineer Chris Rakestraw (Danzig, Children of Bodom) and mixed by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Amon Amarth), features what FRIEDMAN recently told Guitar World is “the most intense writing and playing I can do.”
The album also includes notable guest appearances by several artists influenced by FRIEDMAN, including flamenco/metal acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, Children of Bodom front man Alexi Laiho, Skyharbor mastermind Keshav Dhar and Revocation guitar whiz David Davidson, as well as FRIEDMAN’s first songwriting collaboration with Jason Becker since the pair played together in Cacophony, the pioneering duo of guitar mayhem.
In addition, “Inferno” breaks all genre rules and creates new ones with an exhilarating and musically daring mash-up with Jørgen Munkeby of the acclaimed “blackjazz” act Shining, as well as two tracks featuring vocals by rock guru Danko Jones. Overall, “Inferno” is by far FRIEDMAN’s most thrilling and adventurous effort to date. The full track listing is as follows:
1. Inferno
2. Resin
3. Wicked Panacea (feat. Rodrigo y Gabriela)
4. Steroidhead (feat. Keshav Dhar)
5. I Can’t Relax (feat. Danko Jones)
6. Meat Hook (feat. Jørgen Munkeby)
7. Hyper Doom
8. Sociopaths (feat. David Davidson)
9. Lycanthrope (feat. Alexi Laiho & Danko Jones)
10. Undertow
11. Horrors (co-written by Jason Becker)
12. Inferno -reprise-
“Steroidhead” – hailed by Rolling Stone as a “mix of searing solos and chugging prog-metal riffs” – was unveiled last month prior to the annual NAMM convention, where FRIEDMAN introduced a new Paul Reed Smith signature series guitar and performed live before capacity crowds at the PRS and Roland/Boss demonstration booths. Check it out here:
“I’m extremely proud of the work I’ve done with Cacophony and Megadeth, but I was never interested in looking back or stopping there,” FRIEDMAN says. “‘Inferno’ is the album that fans of my work with those two bands have always wanted me to make. I’ve finally made it, and completely on my own maniacal terms.”
FRIEDMAN will kick off a world tour for “Inferno” in May, when he teams with Gus G for a European tour. Dates are listed below. Soon after, FRIEDMAN will return to America for his first tour of his home country in more than a decade. Stay tuned for further information.
___________________________
“Inferno” North American street date: May 27, 2014
AVENGED SEVENFOLD – A7X and HELLYEAH fans unite! The Shepherd Of Fire tour begins on April 12th, in Dawson Creek, British Columbia! Check out the dates, cities and venues below! Metal be thy name!
Avenged Sevenfold – With Special Guest HELLYEAH – Tour Dates:
04/12 Dawson Creek, BC EnCana Events Centre- Dawson Creek, BC
04/13 Prince George, BC CN Centre
04/16 Moose Jaw, SK Mosaic Place
04/17 Edmonton, AB Shaw Conference Centre
04/19 Winnipeg, MB MTS Center
04/21 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
04/23 Huntsville, AL Von Braun Center
04/25 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
04/26 Jacksonville, FL Welcome to Rockville
04/28 Lafayette, LA Cajundome
04/30 Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live
05/02 Virginia Beach Farm Bureau Live
05/04 Charlotte, NC Carolina Rebellion
05/06 Knoxville, TN Knoxville Civic Auditorium-Coliseum
05/08 Hershey, PA Giant Center
05/10 Bangor, ME Rise Above Fest
05/12 Quebec City, QC Colisée Pepsi
05/13 Montreal, QC Centre Bell
05/15 Syracuse, NY The Oncenter
Jiminy Metal Cricket! I haven’t written a Some Metal and Rock ‘N Roll Thoughts post, since March of 2013! As Frank Sinatra and David Lee Roth have sung… That’s Life. By the way, That’s Life was written by DeanKay and Kelly Gordon; while originally recorded by American born Jazz singer: Marion Montgomery. There’s some non-Metal trivia for y’all. Whoa.
The Zero Tolerance magazine cover (above) has DEICIDE’s (legendary) Glen Benton staring at not just me… he’s also staring at you! One look into those eyes of Glen Benton and all I see is… METAL. Okay, someone may see, (maybe) a tad of evil. Evil is Metal. Cool. However, the glaring eyes of Glen Benton can be open for interpretation and still one Metal fact remains: those eyes of Glen Benton have undoubtedly seen it all.
I bought this December/January issue of Zero Tolerance at my nearest Barnes & Noble store, yesterday. Yes, I’m psyched. I cannot give this magazine enough Metal praise. It’s released every two months and costs $9.99 (U.S.). This mag is a UK publication and also comes with a CD of 18 songs; real songs that y’all won’t hear on American Idol.
L to R: Ghostbusters – Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.
Yesterday, the sad news spread across the world that the legendary Harold Ramis, a comedy filmmaker, director, writer and actor passed away. Man, have I been a lifelong fan of Harold Ramis! I have thoroughly enjoyed, time and again, every movie that Harold Ramis touched! Beginning back to my middle school/high school years, the comedy films that Harold Ramis was responsible for included Animal House (1978), Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), the Ghostbusters franchise, National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), Groundhog Day from 1993 and many more. An American comedy film icon, Harold Ramis shall forever be. His ability to make me laugh will forever remain and that’s a Metal fact. May Harold Ramis rest in peace.
Above: That’s the KISS frisbee I own. Pretty cool, huh? I bought it at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Yup.
Apparently, KISSwill not play in any band lineup for The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. It would have been extremely cool if every available member of KISS (past and present) could perform together onstage, for one kick-ass jam medley of KISS classics. A video backdrop showing the late Eric Carr and Mark St.John during this “fantasy” performance would have been an ultimate fan experience and profound moment in Rock history. Alas, what the hell do I know? Right?
Regardless, anyone who follows KISS on a daily basis, via their Facebook and website, will surely agree that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have NOT forgotten about their past. Their roots are what made them the icons they are today and both Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have openly acknowledged (via their recent press release) they want to celebrate the history of KISS. Read it by clicking the link below:
The above link is for a press release featured on Metal Odyssey, on February 23, 2014.
I’d like to now give a HUGE Metal plug to my local indie CD/vinyl record shop: Disc Exchange. This (Dayton, Ohio) whiz-bang store covers it all, from music, movies and games to pop-culture collectibles too! True professionals (Mark and Kevin) you’ll find at Disc Exchange. Album collector’s will find LOTS of great vinyl, both new and used! Just take a look at their store logo above for more info! If you stop by Disc Exchange, tell ’em Stone sent you. Metal be thy name!
Today, the perpetrators at Revolver are pleased to premiere the lyric video for “Hellbent,” from German Power Metal icons, GAMMA RAY. The new tune comes by way of the band’s long-anticipated new full-length, Empire Of The Undead, set for release this Spring.
A record that almost wasn’t, Empire Of The Undead was composed throughout 2013 with Eike Freese (Dark Age) at the mixing desk alongside bassist/co-writer, Dirk Schlächter, and was nearing completion before Hammer Studios, their home, rehearsal space, and meeting point for many metal bands throughout Germany, had burned down leaving much of its contents in ruins. Fortunately, the Empire Of The Undead masters managed to make it through unscathed. “If this could not stop us, nothing ever will,” joked light-hearted GAMMA RAY vocalist Kai Hansen, adding that, “We got rid of a lot of shit that we gathered there. Unfortunately, a lot of good equipment as well. Anyhow, we look towards the future, we saved the production and we can continue now in this new place.”
Sample triumphant new teaser track, “Hellbent,” now playing at Revolver at THIS LOCATION.
Empire Of The Undead will be released in North America on CD, LP and digitally via Armoury Records in conjunction with earMusic on April 15, 2014.
Southern Australian pirates, CAULDRON BLACK RAM, have set sail for the 20 Buck Spin roster, and are preparing to deliver the most cunning onslaught on ye lubbers with their third LP, Stalagmire.
Following a deuce of LPs disbursed through cooperative alliances with Weird Truth Productions, Blood Harvest and Parasitic, among a random gaggle of demos and EPs since their 1997 formation, the latest tirade from this crew of bandits from Adelaide shows CAULDRON BLACK RAM once again utilizing tactics learned in previous voyages through treacherous doom and death territory. However, the Stalagmire be the grandest onslaught from this brutal seafaring trio yet, with the pungency of an armada’s worth of bilge rats and bellowing with the might of a thousand cannons.
20 Buck Spin’s northern allies at Cvlt Nation have today deployed the first missive from Stalagmire with the hellish opening tale “Fork Through Pitch,” now playing HERE.
Stalagmire will invade ports and pillage villages in North America on April and in Europe April 4th via CD, LP and digital deployment methods.
The crude horde that be the CAULDRON BLACK RAM emerge yet once more from wat’ry tomb to besiege hapless posers and put to manacles weak would be picaroons. Being the third of albums to sail under the banner of CBR, the new recording is a commanding effort of sludgy crossboned black death metal and slimy, rum-sodden doomed debauchery. The brigands from the far side of the world prove well versed in the execution of this unfair trade, delivering knavish punishment unto unprepared ears in the form of Stalagmire. This scurrilous tale puts CAULDRON BLACK RAM in league with similar ugly contemporaries who pay heed to old, distasteful gods and outlaw tradition but yet forge a singular path of their own making. Be it black, death, doom or thrash, all goes into the strange brew mixed in the CAULDRON BLACK RAM.
As reported on the Rigor Mortis (Official) Facebook page:
We’re ecstatic to announce that the mighty Down will headline the 1st Annual Mike Scaccia “Rock The Heart” Concert on Saturday, May 24 at Emo’s in Austin, Texas!! This benefit show is to help increase awareness of heart disease for the Mike Scaccia “Heart Rock” Foundation.
We also want to thank Philip Anselmo, Kate Richardson and the rest of the DOWN crew for offering to make this show the very 1st Mike Scaccia “Rock The Heart” Concert. It definitely means we are starting this thing off with a bang by having such a legendary band like DOWN headline this inaugural concert.
The complete lineup is below…
Mike Scaccia “Rock The Heart” Concert
Starring….
DOWN
w/ special guests…
The Scaccianators (Mike Scaccia/Rigor Mortis Tribute)
*Featuring former Rigor Mortis members Casey Orr,
Harden Hampton Harrison, Bruce Corbitt & Doyle Bright*
(w/ special guests Mike Taylor Rabid Flesh Eaters), Philip Anselmo, Scott Shelby (Warbeast), Rick Perry ( Gammacide) & more!)
As reported on the KISS Facebook page, on February 23rd, 2014:
ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME STATEMENT FROM KISS
To All Our Fans In Regards To The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
Out of respect, Ace and Peter’s recent statements demand a quick response to you, our fans.
Our intention was to celebrate the entire history of KISS and give credit to all members including present long time members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, and additionally Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr all who have made this band what it is, regardless of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s point of view.
Although KISS has moved forward far longer without them, Ace and Peter are at the very foundation of what we have built and this would all be impossible had they not been a part of it in the beginning.
It is over 13 years since the original lineup has played together in make-up and we believe the memory of those times would not be enhanced. Contrary to claims made through the media we have never refused to play with Ace and Peter.
We have spent 40 years dedicated to building KISS without quitting or wavering as the band has moved forward with huge tours and platinum albums through different important lineups for forty years, to this day.
KISS has always been a band unlike any other. That is why we started KISS. That is why we continue KISS. Being unlike other bands also means making choices and decisions unlike other bands.
This is understandably an emotional situation where there is no way to please everyone.
To bring this to a quick end, we have decided not to play in any line-up and we will focus our attention on celebrating our induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
We are excited and are looking forward to seeing you all on the KISS 40th Anniversary worldwide tour.
As reported on the Century Media Records Facebook page:
Death Metal psychopaths ABORTED have just finished their eighth full-length, “The Necrotic Manifesto”, with Danish producer Jacob Hansen! The artwork has been done by Par Olofsson (PATHOLOGY, IMMOLATION, IMMORTAL).
The album will be released on April 28th in Europe and on April 29th in North America! Check out the track-listing below:
01. Six Feet Of Foreplay
02. The Extirpation Agenda
03. Necrotic Manifesto
04. An Enumeration Of Cadavers
05. Your Entitlement Means Nothing
06. The Davidian Deceit
07. Coffin Upon Coffin
08. Chronicles Of Detruncation
09. Sade & Libertine Lunacy
10. Die Verzweiflung
11. Excremental Veracity
12. Purity Of Perversion
13. Of Dead Skin & Decay
14. Cenobites
Unspeakable Axe Records has locked horns with Canadian vinyl specialists War On Music for the vinyl release of BIRTH A.D.’s I Blame You and BESIEGED’s Victims Beyond All Help, both released last year on CD and digital formats by Unspeakable Axe Records.
The BIRTH A.D. vinyl edition of I Blame You is limited to 300 copies, with 100 coming on green and black splatter vinyl.
Originally released by the band in 2010 and re-issued by Unspeakable Axe last year, the vinyl edition of Victims Beyond All Help is limited to 500 copies with 100 on yellow and red splatter vinyl.
Triptykon’s second album, “Melana Chasmata” (rough translation: “black, deep depressions/valleys”) will be released on April 14 (Europe) and April 15 (North America), 2014, through Century Media Records/Prowling Death Records Ltd.
Like its predecessor “Eparistera Daimones”, the album was produced by Triptykon’s singer/guitarist Tom Gabriel Warrior and guitarist V. Santura and recorded and mixed at V. Santura’s own Woodshed Studio in southern Germany as well as at Triptykon’s rehearsal facilities in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2013 and 2014. Those who have already heard “Melana Chasmata” have described it as “atmospheric, dark, diabolical, and dramatic”, “diverse, epic, and doomy, but on an entirely different level”, “a fierce boulder of abhorrence”, or “very heavy and yet very aesthetic at the same time”.
“Melana Chasmata” will feature the following nine songs, at a playing time of around 67 minutes:
1. Tree Of Suffocating Souls
2. Boleskine House
3. Altar Of Deceit
4. Breathing
5. Aurorae
6. Demon Pact
7. In The Sleep Of Death
8. Black Snow
9. Waiting
Further new Triptykon music has been recorded, to be released as an EP or mini album later in 2014 or early in 2015.
Among other formats, the album will be released as a 32-page mediabook (with lyrics and liner notes to every song, and with a special fold out poster), as a gatefold vinyl double album (with posters and large-format booklet), and for digital download. Additionally, Century Media is scheduled to issue a special box set, limited to 2000 copies. The box set will include the album, a Triptykon silver pendant, a poster, postcards, a Triptykon tote bag, and a cap.
“Breathing” Single Cover. Releasing on March 17, 2014.
To commemorate the unveiling of “Melana Chasmata”, Century Media will release a collector’s gatefold 7″ vinyl single, featuring the songs “Breathing” and “Boleskine House”. The single will be available on March 17, 2014, and be limited to a pressing 1000 (of which 200 will be in red vinyl). “Breathing” and “Boleskine House” will also be available as a digital single (including the option for a digital booklet), and they will be streamed on YouTube and Soundcloud.
“Melana Chasmata” will be further distinguished by featuring, for the second time for Triptykon, the extraordinary art of legendary Swiss surrealist HR Giger. Following “Eparistera Daimones”, the group began to make arrangements for an entirely different cover for the second album. Completely unexpectedly, HR Giger approached Tom Gabriel Warrior in October of 2011 to express his appreciation of how Triptykon had used his art on the first album and to propose a continuation of the artistic collaboration. This development thus marks the first time any musical artist has worked with HR Giger on three albums (Celtic Frost’s “To Mega Therion”, and Triptykon’s “Eparistera Daimones” and “Melana Chasmata”), and it commemorates a collaboration that has now lasted for 30 years.
“Melana Chasmata” features Giger’s dramatically mysterious “Mordor VII” (work no. 283, 100 x 70 cm, acrylic on wood, 1975) as a front cover and Giger’s “Landschaft XVI” [“Landscape XVI”] (work no. 209, 100 x 70 cm, acrylic on paper on wood, 1972) as gatefold art.
After a lengthy hiatus, Triptykon will return to the stage this year to promote “Melana Chasmata”. Among the concerts so far scheduled are appearances at the celebrated Roadburn Festival, at Rock Hard Festival, and, pending the issuance of the proper visas by US authorities, Triptykon’s return to the United States for an exclusive appearance at Maryland Death Fest. For further information on live dates, please refer to Triptykon’s presence on the web.
Triptykon consists of: V. Santura (guitar, vocals), Norman Lonhard (drums, percussion), Vanja Slajh (bass, vocals), and Tom Gabriel Warrior (voice, guitars).
Legendary French Death Metal band LOUDBLAST have signed with Listenable Records for the follow-up to 2011’s Frozen Moments Between Life and Death. Due out later this year, the band’s newest album will be titled Burial Ground.
A solid mix of classic and modern influences, the latest output from these Death Metal veterans dares transgressing their traditional Thrash/Death style of yore to achieve a much more malign yet as catchy sound. Burial Ground benefits from a massive production and sees the band evolving in further darker sounds while retaining the original 90s classic Death Metal roots.
LOUDBLAST ON TOUR: BRUTALE COALITION TOUR 2014 w/ BENIGHTED
EDGEDOWN’s debut album “Statues Fall” will be released in late April, via Massacre Records.
The band started to work on the album in early 2012 and entered the Dreamsound Studios in Munich, Germany, in summer 2012.
Jan Vacik and his team, Daniel Rehbein and Dejan Djukovic, took care of the recordings, the mix and the mastering.
You surely want to know what to expect from the band’s debut album, don’t you?
That’s why the band has uploaded a short video including live and studio footage and snippets from three songs that will be featured on the new album: “Statues Fall”, “Live Together Or Die Alone” and “Flames”!
Enjoy It Here:
EDGEDOWN have also revealed the identity of the special guest that’s featured on “Statues Fall”: Georg Neuhauser of Serenity!
ADRENALINE MOB – The new Adrenaline Mob album, Men Of Honor, was released this past Tuesday in North America, via Century Media. I bought Men Of Honor at my local Best Buy on release day; it was the last copy available! I bought it with Metal pride. I now play it with Metal pride.
I’ll readily admit that the CD layout, photos, liner notes and artwork are all grand Metal stuff! Yes, this new Adrenaline Mob offering is kicking my Metal lovin’ ass into submission. Dig it? Now… if YOU are METAL, go BUY Men Of Honor.
As reported by Adrenaline Mob, on their Facebook page, on February 18th:
We’d like to thank all the kick ass Adrenaline Mob fans/friends for a great 1st day release putting us at #1 iTunes Metal Top Albums, #5 iTunes Rock Top Albums, #69 Overall Top Albums in All Genres!!! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!! Let’s keep it going everyone & make this release week off the charts!!!!!
The 2014 edition of SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL looks to be INCREDIBLE! Black Sabbath!! Check out the bands listed below! WHOA! I even see… W.A.S.P, TNT and Ted Nugent in the middle of all those glorious bands! Canned Heat and Foghat are on the bill! Amazing! Great headliners for each day! Heck, Megadeth, Rob Zombie and Emperor are there and they’re not even headlining! WHOA again!
If you’re a band or musician and would like your music reviewed or be interviewed by Stone, please click the link under the “ALBUM REVIEWS ARCHIVES” section below!
Metal Odyssey's Rock, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Hall of Fame! These Are The Rock And METAL Legends Wrongfully Ignored By "The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame"
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.