Progressive Metal
Limp Bizkit Announce Summer 2021 US Tour with Spiritbox
Get ready, y’all! Limp Bizkit are taking their show on the road this summer for a month’s worth of headlining US gigs with support from rising metal band Spiritbox. The jaunt, dubbed “The Limited Post Pandemic Popup Party”, will feature Fred Durst and company playing a number of intimate venues. The tour kicks off July 29th at the Metro in Chicago, and runs through an August 24th gig at the Palladium in Los Angeles. An August 13th show at the recently renovated Irving Plaza in New York City takes place in the middle of the trek. It’s been 10 years since Limp Bizkit released a new studio album (2011’s Gold Cobra), but the band has continued to tour sporadically as fans await the long-reported follow-up, which at one point was slated to be titled Stampede of the Disco Elephants. Related Vide...
Jinjer Announce New Album Wallflowers, Share New Song “Vortex”: Stream
Jinjer have announced their fourth studio album, Wallflowers, arriving August 27th via Napalm Records. The Ukrainian prog-metal band also unveiled the video for the lead single, “Vortex”. The song entwines complex grooves with the powerful vocals of singer Tatiana Shmailyuk. The emotional weight of her performance lies at the heart of the intense track, which again sees Jinjer dealing with introspective lyrical themes. “This is a perfectly balanced song in our opinion,” the band stated in a press release. “A story told through the music and it deserved a video to perfectly match it… The video is a journey, giving the single another layer, another message, as Tatiana sings about the burden of heavy thoughts and how devastating it can be, the video mirrors what the world has sadly become for...
Spiritbox Announce Debut Album Eternal Blue, Share “Secret Garden”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-25T18:06:10+00:00“>May 25, 2021 | 2:06pm ET Rising metal band Spiritbox have announced their highly anticipated debut album, Eternal Blue, out September 17th via Rise Records. The Canadian trio also shared the new single “Secret Garden”. The album will arrive on a wave of hype following the band’s 2017 EP and a long string of successful one-off singles — three of which made the tracklist for Eternal Blue (“Constance”, “Circle with Me”, and “Holy Roller”). In a way, the singles format has both helped and hindered the band. As singer Courtney LaPlante explains, the single limits the listener’s perception to just one song at a time. In turn, the expectations for each new song b...
Gojira Announce Fall 2021 US Headlining Tour
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-03T16:22:51+00:00“>May 3, 2021 | 12:22pm ET Gojira have announced a 2021 U.S. fall headlining tour, set to kick off October 11th in Salt Lake City. Kentucky hardcore band Knocked Loose and New Zealand thrashers Alien Weaponry will provide support on the October outing. The run of fall shows will come right after Gojira play the Aftershock Festival on October 9th in Sacramento, California. The band will head across the Midwest and South into Florida before making its way to upstate New York, and eventually wrapping up October 29th in Cleveland, Ohio. The dates also follow the French metal band’s trek in support of Deftones that runs from August through September. That tour was pre...
Gojira Release Fortitude, First New Album in Five Years: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-30T04:03:19+00:00“>April 30, 2021 | 12:03am ET French metal band Gojira have released their highly anticipated seventh studio album, Fortitude, via Roadrunner Records. As we stated in our review of the new record, the acclaimed metallers embraces melody on Fortitude without ditching the tactful compositions and cinematic atmospheres for which they’re known. The tracks are even more honed and concise than 2016’s Magma, bringing lyrics and hooks to the forefront. In the years before the release of Fortitude, fans grasped for any detail they could find about Gojira’s next project. The band took their time, revealing little aside from an occasional remark from the Duplantier brothers...
Gojira Unleash New Song “Into the Storm” Ahead of Upcoming Album Fortitude: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-12T16:09:28+00:00“>April 12, 2021 | 12:09pm ET Gojira have unveiled a fourth single, “Into the Storm”, from their upcoming new album, Fortitude, arriving April 30th. The crushing new track will undoubtedly satiate eager fans as the release date fast approaches. Opening with a wash of blast beats and frenetic tremolo picking, “Into the Storm” is arguably the most dynamic and technical piece we’ve heard from Fortitude. It manages to be both atmospheric and catchy, with a bouncy vocal delivery emphasizing the lyrics — always an important facet for Gojira. “Into the Storm” is “infused with the concept of civil disobedience,” according to frontman Joe Duplantier. Related Video “Acting...
Tool’s Maynard James Keenan Spotlights His Ducks in Short Film An Easter Story: Watch
Tool and Puscifer frontman Maynard James Keenan has shared a touching short film, An Easter Story, which tells the story of the ducks he raises in Arizona’s Verde Valley. Keenan shot and narrated the film, which is scored by Nagual del Judith’s mix of Puscifer’s “A Humbling River”. The story focuses on one duck in particular, Larry, who Keenan raised from a duckling. When Larry goes missing, Keenan is sent on a search that would lead him to unexpected philosophical revelations regarding the season of spring, Easter egg hunts, and the meaning of renewal. When Keenan finds Larry, she is sitting on one of her eggs, protecting it. It’s a heartfelt, sincere personal account from the usually veiled and elusive Tool/Puscifer singer. The story of Larry leads him to reflect on the Easter egg h...
Mastodon’s “Biggest-Sounding” New Album Currently Being Mixed for Fall Release
Mastodon are currently mixing their highly anticipated eighth studio album. According to guitarist Bill Kelliher, the LP is slated for a fall release. Previously, the metal band teased a studio update with Tool producer David Bottrill at West End Sound in Savannah, Georgia. In a new interview, Kelliher told the Talking Metal podcast that Mastodon and Bottrill are “halfway through the mixing [process]” for the record, calling it the band’s “fullest” and “biggest-sounding” album to date. Bottrill is currently mixing remotely and sending the files to Mastodon for feedback via Dropbox. “[David will] mix a song every couple of days, and he’ll send it over to us in Dropbox,” Kelliher said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “And we all listen to it. I go listen to it in the car, I listen to it in ...
20 Years Ago, Opeth Unleashed the Progressive Death Metal Masterpiece Blackwater Park
Despite being an exceptional concept album, Opeth’s fourth album, 1999’s Still Life, failed to garner enough industry attention to fully reward the amount of hard work and hope they’d been put into it. Even so, their recent signing with Peaceville Records and increased touring opportunities meant that mastermind Mikael Åkerfeldt and company still felt hopeful that their big break was just over the horizon. Luckily, that turned out to be true, as 2001’s Blackwater Park was not just a major steppingstone for the Swedish troupe, but also a huge leap forward for extreme metal as a whole. Part of the reason for why was that Opeth was forced to leave Peaceville and move to Music for Nations / Koch, resulting in an expansion of distribution and promotional prospects. At first, Åkerfeldt was unhap...
Chevelle Unveil Anthemic New Single “Remember When”: Stream
Chevelle have unleashed the latest single from their upcoming album NIRATIAS, and it comes in the form of the anthemic track “Remember When”. NIRATIAS (an acronym for “Nothing Is Real and This Is a Simulation”) arrives on March 5th. “Remember When” marks the third tune released from the album, following the songs “Self destructor” and “Peach”. The new single is a grand musical statement from Chevelle. Recording as a duo of brothers Pete and Sam Loeffler for first time — following the departure of bassist Dean Bernardino — the Chicago rockers prove they can still pack a sonic wallop. “Remember When” delivers on the otherworldly themes of the album, with Pete’s soaring vocals and a driving guitar riff throughout. Editors’ Picks NIRATIAS marks Chevelle’s first album in five years, follo...
Jason Momoa Says Performing Tool’s “Sober” Inspired His Love of Playing Bass
Jason Momoa (via Instagram), Tool’s Maynard James Keenan (photo by Melinda Oswandel) Heavy metal-loving actor Jason Momoa has revealed that performing Tool’s classic song “Sober” inspired his love of bass guitar. The Game of Thrones actor certainly looks the part of a heavy metal bassist. He has pursued the instrument with fervor, even recently jamming with Primus bass legend Les Claypool. But it was performing “Sober” with his kids that initially sparked his love for the low end, as he divulged in a new interview. While he had already been an avid guitar player, his passion for bass developed on the set of 2018’s Aquaman. “I always have instruments on the set, so my son was playing drums and my daughter was playing guitar,” Momoa told Bass Player magazine. “It was my assis...
