Hard Rock
Slipknot Unleash New Song “The Chapeltown Rag”: Stream
Slipknot have offered up a brand-new single ahead of their upcoming album. The new song is titled “The Chapeltown Rag” and can be streamed below. While five years went by between the band’s previous two albums, 2014’s .5: The Gray Chapter and 2019’s We Are Not Your Kind, time off the road due to the pandemic allowed Slipknot to quickly hit the studio after the release of the latter. Last album cycle, Slipknot first released the one-off single “All Out Life,” which ultimately was not included on the tracklist to We Are Not Your Kind, so there’s no guarantee that “The Chapeltown Rag” will appear on the forthcoming album. Advertisement In an interview with Knotfest.com, singer Corey Taylor describes the new song as a “punisher.” It was inspired by the real-life story of the UK town Chapeltown...
Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen Announce Better Days EP, Share Title Track: Stream
Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden and veteran singer-guitarist Richie Kotzen have announced the Better Days EP as part of their ongoing Smith-Kotzen collaborative project. The duo shared the title track from the four-song release ahead of its release date on November 26th. Straying from Smith’s metal roots in Iron Maiden, the song again sees the accomplished guitarists embracing their love of groove-based blues rock. From the sound of it, the collaboration has come naturally for Smith and Kotzen, whose overlap in musical taste made it a seamless and productive partnership. Better Days will mark their second release of 2021, following March’s self-titled debut. Advertisement Related Video “When Adrian came over to Los Angeles earlier this year, we got together and started throwing ideas around an...
Halestorm Announce “Happy Hale-i-Days” Concert Stream, Score Chart-Topping Hit with New Single
Halestorm have announced a special one-night-only streaming concert on December 23rd. The show, billed the “Happy Hale-i-Days” concert, was filmed in September at the Brown County Music Center in Nashville, Indiana. Tickets to the streaming show will go on sale to the general public this Friday (November 5th) via Mandolin.com, Halestorm have only released one song this year, “Back from the Dead,” in advance of a new album coming in 2022. The single just rocketed to the top spot on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart, marking the band’s sixth No. 1 hit. Frontwoman Lzzy Hale and company have also just unveiled an acoustic, re-imagined version of the song, which can be heard below. Advertisement Related Video “‘Back from the Dead’ is about survival, not in a physical sense, even though I know w...
Nikki Sixx on How the “Beast” of Stress and Trauma Can Lead to Substance Abuse
Listen via: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Stitcher | Google | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS This November, Going There is focusing on stories of substance abuse and addiction, and helping us launch this block of themed episodes is Mötley Crüe member Nikki Sixx. Advertisement Related Video The co-founding bassist and songwriter joins Dr. Mike Friedman to share how traumatic life events contributed to his addiction, and how he has been able to maintain sobriety for 20 years. The Grammy Award-nominated musician describes how he experienced multiple stressful and traumatic events in his life including abuse, neglect, and concussions from football — all of which can have an impact on mental and physical health...
Alice Cooper Announces Winter 2022 US Tour
Having just wrapped up his fall outing, Alice Cooper has announced brief 2022 US winter tour. He has also confirmed that his annual “Christmas Pudding” charity concert will return on December 4th of this year in Phoenix, Arizona. Cooper’s next tour leg will kick off on January 28th in Cincinnati, Ohio, and wrap up on February 8th in Orlando. The day after that, Cooper will hit the high seas as host of the Monsters of Rock Cruise. However, the shock rock legend does have one more party planned for 2021. After taking a year off due to the pandemic, his annual holiday bash “Christmas Pudding” is back for its 19th iteration. The event benefits the free music, dance, arts, and vocational programs for individuals 12 to 20 years old at Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers. Advertisement Related...
Slash, Myles Kennedy, and Two Conspirators All Contracted COVID-19 While Recording New Album
Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators took extra precautions while recording their upcoming album, 4. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop most of them from contracting COVID-19 during the process. The Guns N’ Roses guitarist reveals in a new interview that he, Kennedy, and two of the Conspirators all were infected with COVID-19 despite purposely not traveling commercially en route to the studio. “The funniest story about this record was the COVID story, because we took a tour bus to Nashville to keep ourselves safe — to get there and not travel commercially,” Slash told Germany’s Radio Regenbogen (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “And then we went and recorded the whole record, and then I got a phone call from Myles in the studio when I was about to do overdubs, and he goes, ‘Man,...
R.I.P. Malcolm Dome, Veteran Music Journalist Who Coined the Term “Thrash Metal” Dies at 66
Malcolm Dome, a longtime music journalist who primarily covered metal and hard rock, has died at the age of 66. The veteran writer is credited with coining the term “thrash metal” in an article about Anthrax in 1984. The UK journalist got his start in the 1970s, writing for Record Mirror and Metal Fury magazines, before landing with Kerrang! upon its launch in 1981. His passing was reported by the website Louder, which encompasses the magazines Prog, Classic Rock, and Metal Hammer, all of which Dome contributed to during his lengthy journalism career. In 1981, Dome put out a book called Encyclopedia Metallica, which may have inspired the legendary metal band’s name. More directly, he referred to Anthrax’s music as “thrash metal” while writing about the band’s song “Metal Thrashing Mad” in ...
Bill Maher to “Nirvana Baby” Spencer Elden: “Stop Being Such a F**king Baby”
Bill Maher didn’t mince words when he addressed the recent lawsuit brought against Nirvana by Spencer Elden, who was photographed 30 years ago as the naked baby on the cover of Nevermind. During the most recent episode of his Real Time show on HBO, Maher told Elden to “stop being such a f**king baby.” Back in August, Elden sued surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, the estate of Kurt Cobain, and other parties for sexual exploitation, alleging the underwater photo of him as a four-month-old on the iconic album cover amounted to child pornography. He is seeking at least $150,000 in damages from each of the defendants, who also include Courtney Love, Universal Music Group, photographer Kirk Weddle, and drummer Chad Channing (who barely appears on Nevermind after being...
Jerry Cantrell’s Brighten Shines a Light Back on His Stellar Solo Work: Review
The Lowdown: As one of the main creative forces of Alice in Chains for decades, singer-guitarist Jerry Cantrell is responsible for penning some of rock’s all-time great guitar riffs. He has remained busy with Alice in Chains (regularly issuing albums and touring after the arrival of singer William DuVall in 2006), and as a result, his solo career took a backseat — his last solo offering, Degradation Trip, dropped all the way back in 2002. So, nearly 20 years later, Cantrell is ready to go at it solo once more with Brighten. For the new album, he enlisted the aid of such renowned names as Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, ex-Dillinger Escape Plan singer Greg Puciato (who supplies background vocals), and producer/composer Tyler Bates, among several additional respected musicians. The Good:...
Mastodon Explore Every Facet of Their Musical Language on Hushed and Grim: Review
The Lowdown: The four-year wait for Mastodon’s eighth studio album, Hushed and Grim, felt like an eternity. As one of the definitive modern metal bands, the group has displayed a level of craftsmanship that’s elevated its discography to the top of the heap. There’s a reason Mastodon garnered so many Metallica comparisons early in their career; not that they sounded alike, but rather, people could sense that the Atlanta quartet were going places. After releasing four now-considered-classic LPs, the band took a similarly mainstream turn, and for good reason. Mastodon had amassed a global audience that yearned for their cracking brand of prog-tinged sludge metal. If the wait for Hushed and Grim felt long, it’s because Mastodon were prepping a double-album opus spanning 15 tracks — a huge unde...
Mastodon Release Hushed and Grim, First New Album in Four Years: Stream
Atlanta metal band Mastodon have released their much-anticipated eighth studio album, Hushed and Grim, via Reprise Records. As Troy Sanders explained to Heavy Consequence, the new double album is deeply personal for Mastodon. Late band manager Nick John served as the inspiration for the set, as the band chronicled his battle with pancreatic cancer. “He was monumental in our existence,” Sanders says. “Almost as important, or more important, than being our band’s manager, he was our dear friend. I always called him my friend before I called him, ‘Oh, He’s also our manager.’ That’s kind of how our relationship worked, not just with me and him but all four of us in the band. He scooped us up in 2004 and, without compromising anything at all, brought us to many bigger and better stages all over...
Wolfgang Van Halen Wraps First Mammoth WVH Tour: 45 Shows, a Sprained Ankle, and Rocking with GN’R
Wolfgang Van Halen had a whirlwind first tour with his solo band Mammoth WVH. Over the course of three months, he played 45 shows, sprained his ankle, dealt with a positive COVID-19 case within his touring party, and rocked the stage with Guns N’ Roses. That’s one helluva ride! Moreover, Wolfgang did all of that with a heavy heart, as he is still mourning the loss of his legendary father, Eddie Van Halen, who passed away in October of last year. The singer and multi-instrumentalist took time out to thank his band, crew, GN’R, and his fans for a memorable experience. On Instagram, he wrote the following: “3 months and 45 shows later, the first @mammothwvh tour is officially complete. Thanks so much to our incredible crew that helped make everything happen, thanks to my boys @franksidoris @j...
