metal: Last News

Babymetal have announced a new collaboration with Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello titled ‘METALI!!’.The track marks the first new song by the newly reborn group which now consists of Su-Metal, Moametal and Momometal. According to a press release, the track is very up-tempo and was created with the idea of a summer festival taking place in a metal village where everyone forms a circle to celebrate the festival.Speaking of the track, Morello shared: “I am a big fan of Babymetal, a band that is both power rocking and constantly surprising with dizzying musical twists and turns.

Skindred are on course to achieve their first-ever UK Number One album.However, it is a close competition, and the band have revealed that they “feel like David and Goliath” in the race for the chart-topping spot.The bid for the peak position comes after the release of their eighth and latest studio album, ‘Smile’, which arrived last Friday (August 4) via Earache Records.On Wednesday (August 9), it was revealed that the LP is their most chart-friendly release to date, and on course to be their first Number One since they formed a quarter of a century ago. However, it is still too close to call, as by the mid-week mark, the band were in a neck-and-neck race with The Sherlocks’ ‘People Like Me and You’ album and Cian Ducrot’s debut album ‘Victory’ and only 500 units separated the three.Now, with the chart-topping album set to be officially announced later today (August 11), the band have revealed what it would mean to them to cinch the peak position.“We’ve been Number One for the past two days, and we’re just going to push like hell until Friday,” frontman Benji Webbe said on Tuesday (August 8) in a discussion with the Official Charts.

Empire State Bastard have announced details of a new UK and European tour. Check out a full list of tour dates below.The blistering project is the side-project of Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil, and their touring guitarist Mike Vennart (Oceansize), and the tour will celebrate the release of their upcoming debut album, ‘Rivers Of Heresy’.Set for release on September 1, the album will see the duo team up with Slayer and Testament drummer Dave Lombardo and Bitch Falcon’s bassist Naomi Macleod.Already three songs have been shared from the forthcoming LP.

Empire State Bastard have shared a dystopian video for their recent single ‘The Looming’ – check it out below.The side-project of Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil, and their touring guitarist Mike Vennart (Oceansize) will release debut album ‘Rivers Of Heresy’ on September 1 (pre-order/pre-save here).‘The Looming’ was shared last month as a follow-up to the singles ‘Harvest’ and ‘Stutter’, and its video continues the dystopian themes of the track.Of the video, the band said: “ESB x Mike Bourne. The end is looming!”Watch the video below.Speaking to NME earlier this year, Neil said that ESB were “going for extremity at all costs” while embarking on what he described as a “hideously horrific musical journey”.“Because we play together in Biffy, there’s no point in us doing another project that doesn’t feel miles apart,” he explained.

Motörhead‘s surviving members Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee have enshrined the ashes of late frontman, Lemmy.It was confirmed last week that his ashes were scattered in the mud at Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival. He died in December 2015 at the age of 70, just two days after he revealed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.Now, footage has also emerged of the surviving band members enshrining their frontman’s ashes, whose real name was Ian Kilmister, at a bar named after Lemmy in the village.At the venue, fans witnessed Campbell and Dee put Lemmy’s ashes, which are housed in a mini version of his custom urn, in a glass display next to his hat, boots, bass guitar, and Marshall stack.

Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has spoken out about the recent rise in objects being thrown at performers saying “it’s fucking ridiculous”.In recent months several musicians have been hit by objects including include P!nk, who was left confused after a fan tossed their dead mother’s ashes onto her stage in London, Harry Styles, who was hit in the eye by a mysterious object thrown and Ava Max who was slapped in the face by someone who ran onto the stage. Further incidents also saw Drake targeted and, more recently, Cardi B.But the most concerning incident occurred when Bebe Rexha was left needing stitches after a member of the crowd threw a phone at her face as she was on stage.

Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has said he had a stroke earlier this year, which left him paralysed on his right side and made him fear for his career.McBrain suffered a TIA – commonly known as a mini-stroke – back in January, which left him paralysed on his right side from his shoulder down.“Of course I was very worried that my career was over but with the love and support from my wife, Rebecca and family, my doctors, especially Julie my OT [occupational therapist], and my Maiden family I was able to bounce back to somewhere near 70% recovered,” he told fans in a video message.After 10 weeks of “intensive therapy”, McBrain was ready to start rehearsals in May with the rest of Iron Maiden ahead of their recent ‘The Future Past’ tour.McBrain said he wanted to focus on performing before he imparted any news on his health to fans.“I feel it’s important to let you know about this now instead of earlier as I was mainly concerned with doing my job and concentrating on getting back to 100% fitness,” he said. “I’m not there yet but by the grace of God I’m getting better and stronger as the weeks go by.“Thank you all for a most wonderful and magical tour so far, you have all been so amazing.”A message from Nicko:Hello Boys and Girls,I hope this message finds you all well!The reason I'm writing to you all today is to let you know of a very serious health problem that I have been through.

Motörhead icon Lemmy has had more of his ashes scattered the mud at Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival.The famed British metallers played Wacken countless times during their decades-long career, and some of his ashes were spread as part of Wacken’s ‘Lemmy Forever’ festivities opening the festival at the weekend.Lemmy, whose real name was Ian Kilmister, died in December 2015 at the age of 70, just two days after he revealed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.“Lemmy coming back to Wacken is an enormous honour for us — words can hardly express how enormous,” said festival co-organiser Thomas Jensen. “We will create a place of remembrance for him that does justice to his significance for an entire genre and beyond.”“There has always been a special connection between Motörhead and Wacken Open Air; hardly any band has played here more often,” he continued.

Pantera kicked off their long-awaited North American headlining tour last week with a show in Pennsylvania. Check out footage of the gig and the full setlist below.The ongoing live performances mark the heavy metal veteran’s first headlining tour on the continent since they made their comeback last year, with Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne) on guitar and Charlie Benante (Anthrax) on drums.The two new members join frontman Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, and take the place of the two late Abbott brothers, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul.Taking place at The Pavillion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania on July 28, the four-piece marked their comeback with a 16-song setlist which included countless fan favourites, as well as two tracks that haven’t been played in over two decades.The gig kicked off with renditions of ‘A New Level’ and ‘Mouth For War’ – both songs from their hit 1992 album ‘Vulgar Display Of Power’, before later featuring a variety of their most famous hits, including ‘Walk’, ‘This Love’, ‘Fucking Hostile’ and ‘Cowboys From Hell’.A main highlight of the night, however, came right at the end of the set, as Anselmo and Co. played ‘Slaughtered’ and ‘Revolution Is My Name’ – two tracks that haven’t featured in their live setlist since 2001.Other key moments of the set came with their famed cover of Black Sabbath’s 1970 track ‘Planet Caravan’, and a crowd-led performance of ‘Happy Birthday’, which was played for Brown who had turned 59 the day before.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has recounted how he had to stop fans from stealing cushions from venues they were playing and throwing them around during their sets.Ulrich recently appeared on the podcast Conan O’Brien’s Needs A Friend, in which he reflected on Metallica’s tour history in Los Angeles, the city where he formed the band with James Hetfield, and a place which he says has played host to “some of the best shows of our career” thanks to some particularly “passionate” fans.However, this sometimes escalated into fans throwing around cushions and leaving the band with a hefty bill to pay.Speaking of the Long Beach Arena specifically, Ulrich said: “What are there, 16,000 seats in there? We’ve paid for about 15,000 of those 16,000 seats over the years because every time we were playing Long Beach Arena, people would just take the cushion, you know, play frisbee with it inside the arena.“The next day [the venue staff] would be like, ‘Okay, Metallica, here’s those $300,000 worth of cushions that you have to pay for’.”Ulrich added that the band had to explicitly warn fans off doing anything similar to avoid them having to foot the bill. “We had to go on KNAC [radio station] multiple times and go ‘Listen, whatever.

KoRn are finally partnering with Adidas for a collaboration this year, after years of the nu-metal band sporting the brand’s clothing.News of a partnership was shared by KicksFinder on social media back in February of this year, but it’s now been verified according to an internal Adidas document viewed by Complex.The Korn x Adidas collab will include two pairs of sneakers – the Campus 00s and the Supermodified – along with seven pieces of apparel, as per the document. The Korn x Adidas Campus 00s will cost $130 (£101), while the Korn x Adidas Supermodified will retail for $140 (£108).The shoes will reportedly feature the band’s logo on the tongue, along with guitar pick keychains and art from Korn’s 1996 album ‘Life Is Peachy’ on the insoles.Details of Korn's upcoming collaboration with Adidas leaked in internal document.

Ozzy Osbourne has shared a health update after cancelling his headlining slot at the Power Trip festival later this year.The “Prince Of Darkness” was set to perform in Indio, California this October alongside headliners Metallica, AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses. But a statement shared by the metal legend explained that he was not ready to perform due to his health issues.“Unfortunately, my body is telling me that I’m just not ready yet and I am much too proud to have the first show that I do in nearly five years be half-assed,” Osbourne wrote in the statement.Speaking to his co-host, Billy Morrison, on SiriusXM’s Ozzy Speaks, Osbourne shared that he had recently had a blood clot filter removed from one of his arteries.“When I had the blood clots in my legs, they put a filter in your artery to stop the blood clots going to your heart and your brain,” Osbourne shared.

Empire State Bastard have shared a new single called ‘The Looming’ – listen to it below.The song will serve as the closing track on the group’s debut album ‘Rivers Of Heresy’, which is due for release on September 1 (pre-order/pre-save here).Following on from the cuts ‘Harvest’ and ‘Stutter’, the latest offering from ESB – the side-project of Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil, and their touring guitarist Mike Vennart (Oceansize) – strikes an apocalyptic tone, building in intensity over its almost-seven-minute duration.“They can’t control you/ They can’t control you,” Neil screams midway through over brutal, crunching guitars. “Fuck what they told you/ Fuck what they told you/ Let’s take it over/ Something to live for/ Something to live for.”At the end of the fuzz rock-inspired single, Neil repeats a sinister warning of impending doom from the opening verse: “I’ll never grow old in a graveyard/ Do any little thing that’s not too hard/ The devastation’s looming like Jesus, just like Jesus/ What’s it gonna take to believe us?”In a brief statement, Empire State Bastard said: “The end is nigh! The end is looming! Fuck what they told ya!”Check out the official lyric video for ‘The Looming’ below.Speaking to NME earlier this year, Neil said that ESB were “going for extremity at all costs” while embarking on what he described as a “hideously horrific musical journey”.“Because we play together in Biffy, there’s no point in us doing another project that doesn’t feel miles apart,” he explained.

Papa Roach, KoRn and Deftones are “the next Metallicas”.During a recent interview with Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3 (via Metal Hammer), the Papa Roach frontman explained: “We’re watching Metallica step into that Rolling Stones spot right now. And Foo Fighters are another one of those groups.”The comments came after host Andy Hall expressed his concerns about there being a possible lack of newer bands that are able to reach James Hetfield and co’s level of success after they retire.Shaddix, who founded Papa Roach in 1993, went on to cite his own group as well as KoRn and Deftones as “the next Metallicas”.The vocalist continued: “You know what I mean? That’s it. We’re stepping into that spot now.

Marilyn Manson will plead no contest in a case involving him allegedly spitting and blowing his nose on a videographer in 2019.Manson – whose real name is Brian Warner – was accused by videographer Susan Fountain of spitting a “big loogie” and blowing his nose on her while she was filming his concert in Gilford, New Hampshire, on August 19th, 2019.The rocker was charged with two misdemeanour counts of simple assault to the incident. The plea will allow him to avoid a trial that was set to begin next month.As reported by the Associated Press, had the singer gone to trial and had been convicted, he would have faced prison time and a $2000 (£1554) fine for each charge.If the judge accepts Manson’s plea, which is expected to be entered Thursday in Belknap County Superior Court, he would have to pay a $1200 (£933) fine and serve 20 hours of community service for the nose-blowing offense while the charge involving the spitting incident would be dropped.Manson has recently faced various lawsuits and allegations made by over a dozen women accusing him of both sexual and physical abuse.

Code Orange have finally released ‘Take Shape’, their long-teased track featuring Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan.Last night (July 19), the band shared the single, announcing a new album in the process. ‘Take Shape’ featuring Billy Corgan is the third taste of Code Orange’s fifth studio album, ‘The Above’.‘The Above’ is due for release on September 29 via Blue Grape music.

Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has recalled the time that his bandmate Tony Iommi was nearly “sacrificed” onstage by a “lunatic”.Speaking to Reader’s Digest, Butler reflected on growing up in a strict Catholic home, the band’s “satanic” imagery and how that resulted in several weird experiences for the metal pioneers.“My dad wasn’t very pleased when he saw the inverted cross on the sleeve of our first album. But, generally, nobody in the UK or Europe cared that much about our Satanic imagery,” Butler shared.He went on to explain: “In the US, though, people would threaten us and turn up at our gigs with crosses and bibles. In Nashville, someone jumped on stage and went for Tony with a knife.

Megadeth drummer Dirk Verbeuren has performed his own take on The Killers‘ ‘Mr. Brightside’ after hearing the track for the first time.For a Drumeo series on YouTube, the thrash metal drummer was tasked with listening to a song – without drums – once before recreating the track’s drums. In this instance, Drumeo’s team selected The Killers’ ‘Mr.

Corey Taylor has announced an upcoming UK and European tour for his second solo album ‘CMFT2’. Check out the new single ‘Post Traumatic Blues’ below.The album is a follow-up to the singer’s 2020 debut LP, ‘CMFT’, and is slated to arrive on September 15.‘CMFT2’ will be the first of Taylor’s albums with BMG, and the first to arrive under his own label imprint, Decibel Cooper Recordings.

Nova Twins have recalled their devotion to supporting artists in the rock scene, and revealed their plans to work on new music in a new interview with NME. Watch the video in full above.The duo caught up with NME at this year’s instalment of Mad Cool on Thursday (July 6), shortly before kicking off their set at the Ouigo stage.

Slipknot‘s Tortilla Man may have inadvertently revealed the name of the band’s new keyboard player on social media.The newest addition to the line-up was teased early last month following the abrupt departure of Craig Jones, the metal group’s longtime keyboardist and sampler. Fans soon began sharing their theories on who could be behind the mask.Many people online have even suggested that the mystery musician is actually still Jones, who is simply sporting a new look.However, a general consensus seemed to be that the member could be one of two people: Zac Baird (Korn, Ghost, Evanescence) or Nathan Church.The latter previously played keys and samplers in the band Downthesun, who were signed to Slipknot’s label Maggot Corps, and have various other links to the band (their sole 2002 self-titled album was executive produced by Shawn “Clown” Crahan).According to Consequence, Michael “Tortilla Man” Pfaff – whose identity was revealed last year after he joined Slipknot in 2019 – posted a since-deleted backstage selfie from a recent gig.The image saw Pfaff standing in front of a clothing rack that was labelled with the first names of his current Slipknot bandmates: “Corey” (frontman Corey Taylor), “Sid” (DJ Sid Wilson), “Mick” (guitarist Mick Thomson).One tag looked like it read “Zac”, adding further weight to the Zac Baird theory.