Heavy Music News
Ozzy Osbourne’s CryptoBatz NFTs Hit by Scam That Bilked Users Out of Thousands of Dollars
A few weeks ago, Ozzy Osbourne announced his new CryptoBatz NFT collection, making 9,666 unique digital bat designs available to those willing to part with their cryptocurrency. Now it turns out that a large number of people were scammed out of thousands of dollars worth of crypto thanks to a bad link shared by the project’s official Twitter account and website. As tech site The Verge reports, Cryptobatz uses the site Discord for its transactions and initially used the shot URL “discord.gg/cryptobatznft” (do NOT click) in its Twitter posts. Somewhere along the line, the official short link was changed to discord.gg/cryptobatz, but hackers took advantage of the old URL to set up a fake Discord site. Unfortunately, Ozzy and his partner companies still left up the old Tweets with the old link...
Testament Part Ways with Drummer Gene Hoglan in Advance of “Bay Strikes Back” Tour
Testament have announced that they’ve parted ways with drummer Gene Hoglan as they prepare to headline the “Bay Strikes Back” tour this spring. The veteran thrash band cited scheduling conflicts involving Hoglan’s other projects as the primary reason for the split. Hoglan, one of heavy metal’s most skilled and respected drummers, has earned the nickname “The Atomic Clock” for his precision playing. He briefly played in Testament from 1996 to 1997, appearing on 1997’s Demonic. He then rejoined the band in 2011 and had been Testament’s drummer for the past 10-plus years, performing on their last three albums, including 2020’s Titans of Creation. A statement from Testament reads as follows: “First off, we are beyond grateful to have had Gene Hoglan behind our drum throne for ten years, severa...
Trivium’s Matt Heafy Debuts Black Metal Project Ibaraki with First Single “Tamashii No Houkai” Feat. Ihsahn: Stream
Trivium frontman Matthew Kiichi Heafy has unveiled his new black-metal solo project Ibaraki, sharing the video for debut single “Tamashii No Houkai” featuring Ihsahn. Ibaraki — the name for a Japanese demon taken from feudal legend — celebrates Heafy’s Japanese heritage and appreciation for the music of Ihsahn. It was the Emperor founder that inspired Heafy to embark on the path of black metal, acting as a friend and mentor. The mutual appreciation between the two artists led to collaboration, with Ihsahn producing the Ibaraki material. “Tamashii No Houkai” is only the first of numerous songs “assembled over months and years,” and Ihsahn himself appears on the song. Advertisement Related Video The track opens with a gust of Nordic black metal. Incorporating harsh and clean vocals, Heafy so...
Halestorm Unharmed After Tour Bus Is Destroyed by Fire
Halestorm’s tour bus was completely burnt out by a fire early Thursday morning, but thankfully the band members were sleeping in a hotel at the time. The rock group was in Worcester, Massachusetts to play a show last night (January 20th) at the DCU Center with co-headliners Evanescence. Guitarist Joe Hottinger posted photos of the aftermath on Instagram, showing the interior of the bus completely charred. He wrote, “Halestorm had a night for the books. We were all in our hotel rooms last night and we woke up to our bus burning down at 3AM. Fun fun. No one was hurt. The Worcester fire department got there and put the fire out. They were amazing. Our fearless security Steve pulled guitars and luggage out of the bay. We all lost some stuff, but it was just stuff. The investigator doesn’t know...
A Day To Remember Release New Version of “Re-Entry” Featuring Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus
A Day To Remember have unveiled a new version of their single “Re-Entry,” this time featuring Mark Hoppus of Blink-182. Hoppus — who revealed a few months ago that he was cancer-free following a battle with lymphoma — appears on the second verse of “Re-Entry,” lending his easily recognizable vocals to the rock anthem. Having Hoppus on the track is a perfect fit, since Blink-182 was a significant inspiration for the song. “When this song originally took shape it was without a doubt massively influenced by Blink-182, so when the idea came up to do a remix of sorts for it, Mark was immediately who we pictured,” A Day to Remember vocalist Jeremy McKinnon said in a statement. “We sent him the track with no second verse and said to do whatever he was inspired to do and what he sent back genuinel...
Midnight Announce New Album Let There Be Witchery, Share “Szex Witchery”: Stream
Midnight, the one-man metal project of multi-instrumentalist Athenar, has announced a new album, Let There Be Witchery. Lead single “Szex Witchery” is available now ahead of the LP’s March 4th release date. Under the Midnight moniker, Athenar has proliferated a brand of blackened heavy metal where sodomy and blasphemy reign. For the uninitiated, the new song “Szex Witchery” is a perfect introduction to the Midnight’s Motörhead-playing-black-metal assault. This is “music to start fights to,” as record label Metal Blade so gently puts it. “I always want it to be loud and nasty,” Athenar said via the label’s press release. “That kinda thing never gets old with me. How funny will that look to see me at age 77 — if I reach that point — sitting on the porch blasting Hellhammer?” Advertisement Re...
Behemoth and Arch Enemy Announce Co-Headlining 2022 North American Tour
Behemoth and Arch Enemy are joining forces for the co-headlining “North American Siege” tour this spring. Napalm Death and Unto Others (formerly known as Idle Hands) will support the outing, making for a stacked bill of extreme metal. The tour spans 19 shows and kicks off on April 16th in Tempe, Arizona, running through a May 15th date in Los Angeles. Tickets go sale Friday (January 21st) at 10 a.m. local time and can be purchased via Ticketmaster, with pre-sales beginning tomorrow (January 20th). “To say that we are dying to return on the road would be an understatement!” remarked Behemoth frontman Nergal. “In fact, we’ve never been more hungry to reunite with our legions… not only to bring young of the hottest extreme metal touring lineups in a long time but also to bring you new Behemot...
Clutch to Embark on 2022 North American Tour with Eyehategod, The Sword, and More
Clutch have announced an extensive Spring 2022 North American tour with support from Eyehategod and The Sword on select dates. The trek is split into two legs. The first part launches March 18th in Birmingham, Alabama, and runs through an April 10th date in Joliet, Illinois. Eyehategod and Tigercub will support these shows. After a break, Clutch will return to the road with The Sword and Nate Bergman for the second leg of the tour, kicking off April 27th in Burlington, Vermont, and running through May 22nd in Richmond, Virginia. All tickets go on sale Friday (January 21st) and can be purchased via Ticketmaster. Clutch recently wrapped up their annual string of holiday shows, which followed an earlier run of dates in the fall. Before that, the band made the most of lockdown with a series of...
Honeymoon Rock Fest Lets Fans Get Married While Rocking Out to Puddle of Mudd, Scott Stapp, and More
If you’ve ever wanted to get married while rocking out in front of your favorite early 2000s hard-rock acts, now’s your chance. The inaugural Honeymoon Rock Fest in Oklahoma City will feature headliners Puddle of Mudd, Scott Stapp, and Sugar Ray, among other bands of the era. Sounds weird, right? But we’re not making this up. According to the festival press release, “Between musical sets, couples who purchase a wedding package can tie the knot in front of thousands of cheering fans, where so many of the musicians are excited to officiate.” Somehow, having embattled Puddle of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin officiate a wedding sounds highly entertaining and downright ridiculous at the same time, but we can’t wait for the YouTube clips. Advertisement Related Video As for the festival itself, it t...
Slipknot Announce 2022 North American Knotfest Roadshow Tour
Slipknot have announced the 2022 edition of their “Knotfest Roadshow” package tour. The North American outing will be divided into two distinct one-month legs, with In This Moment and Jinjer supporting the first run, and Cypress Hill and Ho99o9 opening the second round. The first leg of the tour kicks off March 16th in Fargo, North Dakota, and runs through an April 17th show in Vancouver, British Columbia. The second leg launches May 18th in University Park, Pennsylvania, and wraps up with a June 18th concert in Chula Vista, California. Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 21st, at 10:00 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster, with pre-sales beginning as early as today (January 18th). The new dates come as Slipknot continue to support their 2019 album, We Are Not Your Kind, while also prepari...
Steel Panther Announce Spring 2022 US Tour
Steel Panther have announced the first leg of their 2022 “Res-Erections” US tour, spanning 13 dates in March. Never ones to turn down a good pun, the comedic glam metal heroes parodied the latest Matrix film with their upcoming tour and poster. “You won’t need a pill to rock this hard,” the band proudly claims. Any Given Sin will support the trek, which kicks off March 10th in St. Petersburg, Florida, and runs though a March 26th concert in Dubuque, Iowa. The route will hit 13 cities in 16 days, and the press release states that it’s only the first leg, so more tour dates are forthcoming. Tickets go on sale Friday (January 21st) at 10 a.m. local time and can be purchased via Ticketmaster, with pre-sales beginning Wednesday for most shows. Advertisement Related Video “Even though they are k...
R.I.P. Rachel Nagy, Lead Singer of The Detroit Cobras Has Died
Rachel Nagy, the frontwoman of The Detroit Cobras, has passed away. The sad news was announced via the band’s social pages, with no cause of death given. The Detroit Cobras came out of the same ’90s garage rock revival scene as The White Stripes, The Dirtbombs, and other bands. Nagy and guitarist Mary Ramirez, along with guitarist Greg Cartwright, formed the core of the group, joined by a rotating cast of other musicians throughout the years. Still an active band up until Nagy’s passing, The Detroit Cobras primarily recorded and performed covers of classic and little known R&B songs from the 1960s. Nagy’s passing was revealed by Cartwright, who wrote the following via Instagram: Dear friends, family and fans, It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that we announce the loss of our b...
