With potent and palpable intensity, the momentum continues for Omens, arguably Lamb Of God‘s most aggressive and ambitious work to date … and today the Grammy-nominated goliath unleash their third single “Grayscale” from the forthcoming Omens album out October 7 on Epic Records.
Willie Adler says “‘Grayscale’ has just a smack you in the face, bit of hardcore feel to it. We had basically finished writing the record and I wrote this song thinking it won’t necessarily be a Lamb song. I sent it to Josh Wilbur, our producer, to check out and he responded with ‘Perfect, this is the last song we need for the record!'”
The heavy “Grayscale” includes Blythe’s vibrantly unhinged vocal attack plus Morton and Adler‘s threatening riffage to challenge and devastate headbangers alike and also features Cruz and Campbell‘s unstoppable rhythms.
Across their career Lamb Of God grew from basement shows and grimy DIY venues to arena headliners. The New Wave of American Heavy Metal architects earned a reverence akin to musical forefathers (and road companions) Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth. For millions of headbangers, Lamb Of God are simply the most important contemporary metal band in the world, whose timeless songs became anthems in the heavy metal songbook, with gargantuan vocals born from both righteous anger and devotion, and unrivaled riffs for the ages.
The new single is available everywhere for download and streaming. The Omensalbum arrives on October 7, 2022, on Epic Records. Don’t miss the gargantuan Omens Tour this fall.
Omens follows 2020’s self-titled No. 1 Hard Rock Album, saluted by the likes of Rolling Stone and NME. Omensis perhaps their angriest album yet. Produced by longtime collaborator Josh Wilbur (Korn, Megadeth), Omensis a vicious new testament for the Richmond, Virginia-based band, a furious entry in their beloved catalog. “The world is crazy and keeps changing. Omens is a reaction to the state of the world,” Blythe explains. “It’s a very pissed-off record.” He pauses for emphasis. “It is extremely pissed-off.”
The New Wave Of American Heavy Metal architects tracked Omens at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, a location that birthed classics from The Doors, The Ramones, and Soundgarden, among others. “The inner workings of the band have never been better,” explains guitarist Mark Morton. “You can hear it in Omens. You can see it in our performances, and if you’re around us for five minutes, you can feel it.”
The Omens album pre-order is live now at Lamb-Of-God.com, boasting special bundles and several exclusive items, including colored vinyl, shirts, hoodies, box sets, and CDs with an alternate color cover.
LAMB OF GOD announcesThe Making Of: Omens, a short film documenting the recording of their forthcoming album. The documentary will premiere with a live stream event on October 6th, 2022 and be available to watch on-demand throughout the month of October at http://watch.lamb-of-god.com.
All physical CD and Vinyl copies of Omens will include a FREE access code to watch the documentary, and fans who pre-order through http://shop.lamb-of-god.com will also receive their code via email before October 6. Standalone live stream and video-on-demand tickets will go on-sale September 22nd.
“In February 2022, we entered Henson Studios in Los Angeles, CA to begin recording our 9th studio album, what would become Omens. We recorded this record the old-fashioned way… with five of us, in a room together, playing music. We filmed the entire process.” – Lamb of God
The documentary will include four full song performances recorded in the live room at Henson Studios: ‘Nevermore’, ‘Omens’,‘Vanishing’ and ‘Gomorrah’.”
Watch The Making Of: OmensTeaser:
About Omens:
Omens follows 2020’s self-titled No. 1 Hard Rock Album, saluted by the likes of Rolling Stone and NME. Omensis perhaps their angriest album yet. Produced by longtime collaborator Josh Wilbur (Korn, Megadeth), Omensis a vicious new testament for the Richmond, Virginia-based band, a furious entry in their beloved catalog. “The world is crazy and keeps changing. Omens is a reaction to the state of the world,” Blythe explains. “It’s a very pissed-off record.” He pauses for emphasis. “It is extremely pissed-off.”
DIAMOND HEAD is of seminal importance to heavy metal music, and their debut album Lightning To The Nations is a key influence on the genre.
“We wrote instinctively,” explains cofounding member and riff lord Brian Tatler. “We had an undeniably unique sound. Four young lads, each with an element that, when combined, produced an alloy that was our own heavy metal sound.”
Lightning To The Nations (The White Album)[Remastered 2021] is the ultimate version of this ultimate album, set for release via Silver Lining Music on September 30th. The offering will feature not only the original album from 1/4-inch master tapes which Lars Ulrich helped Brian Tatler retrieve back in 1990, but also alternative mixes of classic cuts “Lightning To The Nations,” “The Prince,” “Sucking My Love,” “Am I Evil?,” and “Sweet And Innocent” never publicly released (or heard) before. There is also brand-new cover artwork based on an idea Brian Tatler had, to show a character referred to as “The Lightning God.”
“In 1990, as a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the NWOBHM, Lars Ulrich and Geoff Barton compiled the double album New Wave Of British Heavy Metal ‘79 Revisited which came out on Phonogram Records. It was Lars who made it his business to track down wherever possible the original master tapes because all he had were the old, often scratched singles,” recalls Tatler. “He told me that he would often call up members of the bands they wanted to feature on the album and the confused guy on the other end of the phone would assume it was wind-up. ‘Who? Lars Ulrich? From Metallica? Fuck off!’ When Lars called me, I explained that the original 1/4-inch masters for Lightning To The Nations hadn’t been seen since they were sent by our old manager to a guy called Horgi at Woolfe Records years back. Apparently, Horgi didn’t return the tapes, so Lars dispatched someone from Metallica’s German label to pay the guy a visit… The tapes were duly returned and after Phonogram had finished with them, Lars made sure they came home to me. I still have them stored safely.”
The original tapes were first quite literally baked — a process which allows degraded tape to be returned to playable quality — then restored and digitized before DIAMOND HEAD frontman Rasmus “Ras” Bom Andersen remastered the tracks, ending up with a pristine edition of the original recordings and the recently discovered alternative mixes. Pure treasure for all fans of both DIAMOND HEAD and the NWOBHM, the restored masters are supplemented by a set of bonus tracks originally recorded in the 1980s. Rounding-out this ultimate edition are a set of deep and detailed notes on both the era and each song by Brian Tatler.
“I don’t really know what inspired ‘Lightning to the Nations,’” says Tatler in his notes. “I can’t think of any other song by any other band that sounds like it and that’s a hell of a claim. Sean got the title from a painting he had seen in an art book somewhere and thought it would make a good title for a song. Once we had the song and it became track one, side one, it seemed like a good album title too. It’s still in the live set after forty years.”
A twenty-four-hour exclusive presale is available now via the band’s D2C record store HERE. General retail preorders will be available Friday, August 12th via the same link.
Lightning To The Nations (The White Album) [Remastered 2021] Track Listing:
1. Lightning To The Nations
2. The Prince
3. Sucking My Love
4. Am I Evil?
5. Sweet And Innocent
6. It’s Electric
7. Helpless
8. Lightning To The Nations (Lost Original Mix)
9. The Prince (Lost Original Mix)
10. Sucking My Love (Lost Original Mix)
11. Am I Evil? (Lost Original Mix)
12. Sweet And Innocent (Lost Original Mix)
Bonus Tracks:
1. Shoot Out The Lights
2. Streets Of Gold
3. Play It Loud
4. Waited Too Long
5. Diamond Lights
6. We Won’t Be Back
7. I Don’t Got
Later this year, DIAMOND HEAD will embark on a string of shows where they will be joining Saxon as special guests for the European and UK dates on their Seize The Day world tour. See all confirmed dates below.
Few musicians manage to make a worldwide impact with their music. Fewer still manage to pull that trick off twice – but Dez Fafara, the leader of DevilDriver, is one of this elite number. Formed in Santa Barbara, CA in 2002 when vocalist & frontman Dez Fafara’s previous band Coal Chamber were winding down, the five piece have since become a constant and dynamic force in the metal world over the best part of the last two decades. Now this deluxe collection of their first five albums entitled Clouds Over California documents their meteoric rise and is available in deluxe splatter LP and expanded CD format.
DevilDriver’s first, self-titled album DevilDriver had established a successful, groove-heavy precedent on its release in 2003 – but when the Californian quintet got together to compose material for the follow-up album two years later, their music had evolved to an unexpected degree, the result was The Fury Of Our Makers Hand. 2007’s The Last Kind Words was recorded as the, then DevilDriver line-up reached the apogee of its powers, ranging from mercilessly fast extreme metal, to subtler, slower territory and all points between. When Pray For Villains was recorded and released in 2009 the album was a deliberate attempt by DevilDriver to step back a little, inject some textures into the songs and allow the music to breathe, while still staying true to their sound. Their fifth album, 2011’s Beast made a clear statement of intent. It’s predecessor was deliberately more introspective so the intention was to amp everything up tenfold this time by getting visceral and violent again.
Multi-platinum hard rock powerhouse, Five Finger Death Punch, globally released their highly anticipated ninth studio album, “AFTERLIFE” today. Listen to the album on your streaming platform of choice HERE. The title track, “AFTERLIFE” shot to #1 on the Rock charts earlier this year and the album also features new single, “Times Like These ” which is currently climbing the charts. See full album tracklisting below. Today’s release is also highlighted by the launch of the brand new official music video for “Times Like These” which can be watched below.
Speaking on the band’s latest release guitarist Zoltan Bathory shares:
‘Afterlife’ is my favorite Five Finger Death Punch record to date and it was also the most fun to make. If the previous album “F8″ was dubbed as the “rebirth” of the band, then this one is our “transcendence” for sure. One of the most difficult achievements for a traditional “drums-guitars-bass-vocals” rock band is to establish a recognizable signature sound. The second most difficult thing is to keep evolving while holding on to that signature sound. I believe for us, AfterLife isn’t just an evolution but possibly even a paradigm shift in our career, because this record is so vastly different from all the previous ones, yet it still unmistakably sounds like us. Very proud of this one and can’t wait to share it, our fans are in for a few surprises.”
“AFTERLIFE” is available on all streaming platforms, in cd- and cassette format and in various limited vinyl editions across the globe, as well as a limited collector’s edition lenticular cover cd exclusive at Walmart. Check out the various vinyl editions HERE. In addition, an exclusive brand new “AFTERLIFE” merchandise collection, as well as limited edition red apple color vinyl is available at the official Five Finger Death Punch webstore.
5FDP have amassed over 8 billion streams to date. “AFTERLIFE” is the highly anticipated follow-up release to their 2020 album, F8 which debuted at #1 on rock charts around the world and Top 10 on the Mainstream charts in the USA, Austria, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and more. To date, the band have achieved 25 TOP 10 HIT SINGLES and recently broke the record for most consecutive Mainstream Rock Airplay #1 hits. Their music videos have garnered over 3 BILLION VIDEO VIEWS and the band has SOLD OVER 1 MILLION TICKETS between 2018 and 2020 alone. The band has over 10 MILLION FOLLOWERS across social media and are currently the 3RD BIGGEST ARTIST IN THE HARD ROCK SPACE measured by total consumption (sales and streams), surpassed only by Metallica and AC/DC.
Five Finger Death Punch will appear on screen in the upcoming Better Noise Films movie,The Retaliatorsin theaters starting September 14. Their song “Darkness Settles In” is featured on the soundtrack which is out September 16. Presale tickets for the movie and more information can be found via RETALIATORSMOVIE.COM.
AFTERLIFE TRACKLISTING:
1. Welcome To The Circus
2. AfterLife
3. Times Like These
4. Roll Dem Bones
5. Pick Up Behind You
6. Judgment Day
7. IOU
8. Thanks For Asking
9. Blood And Tar
10. All I Know
11. Gold Gutter
12. The End
Coinciding with today’s album release Five Finger Death Punch will kick off their mammoth summer tour in Ridgefield, WA with very special guest Megadeth and support from The Hu and Fire From The Gods. For full routing of the summer tour and for tickets clickhere.
Earlier this week Five Finger Death Punch also announced that they will be joining forces with multi-platinum country rock artist, Brantley Gilbert this fall for a massive US arena tour with support from newcomer Cory Marks. Produced by Live Nation, the tour will kick off in Grand Rapids on November 9th and hit 20 more cities before wrapping up in Las Vegas on December 17th. See the full fall tour routing below. For tickets and more info, please visit fivefinderdeathpunch.com orbrantleygilbert.com.
The upcoming fall run is not the first time Five Finger Death Punch and Brantley Gilbert have joined forces. The two artists brought the worlds of hard rock and country rock together when they partnered on their global #1 hit, “Blue On Black” in 2019. The track also featured the song’s original performer, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, as well as Brian May on guitar and was in support of The Gary Sinise Foundation, to benefit first responders. To date, the collaboration has garnered over 110 million YouTube views and 62 million Spotify streams, proving that this very special tour should not be missed by fans of either artist!
Vancouver, Canada’s IRON KINGDOM is returning in 2022 with their fifth studio album “The Blood of Creation” to follow 2019’s highly praised “On The Hunt”, which took the band to new heights with tours across Canada, the USA, and Europe along with topping the Canadian loud radio charts at #5 (Earshot) and compliments such as “a glorious gallop of foot on the monitor, traditional heavy metal that will have NWOBHM fans drooling. 9/10” – Metal Gods TV and “40 minutes of enjoyable no-frills classic metal.” – Angry Metal Guy.
“The Blood of Creation” continues the reign of classic heavy metal that Iron Kingdom has been presenting over the years to music lovers of the style along with keeping the flame burning for a new generation.
“We wanted to create music in a style of metal that seemed to have been forgotten when we were kids. Since no one else seemed to be doing it, we decided to play metal the way it used to be played in the 70s and 80s. That was the reason for forming Iron Kingdom. Essentially, we wanted to give people an exciting show like an early Iron Maiden, Scorpions, or Saxon show from the 1980s.” recalls guitarist/vocalist Chris Osterman on the beginnings of the band.
Iron Kingdom has come a long way since their 2011 debut “Curse Of The Voodoo Queen” and their next offering is a potent full force of classic shredding heavy metal thunder and will take fans into some unique fantastic worlds they may or may not have experienced, but will also show a dark side of storytelling.
“I think we started as a bit more of a hard rock band on the first record, taking a progressive metal dive for Gates Of Eternity and Ride For Glory, then for On The Hunt, I’d say we went fully classic metal, leading into this new record being a pretty solid mix of all those styles combined. We also came out of the pandemic, which brought some darker emotions some people may have never experienced previously that I think this album may parallel. In the end though, we want people to get the chance to escape this world for a time and find solace in the music.” adds Osterman.
The new album also sees new drummer Max Friesen (ex-Ophelia Falling) making his recording debut with the band to add another angle to their songwriting for this release. The album was self-produced by Iron Kingdom with mixing done by Andy Boldt and mastering by Greg Reely (Overkill, Fear Factory, 3 Inches of Blood).
Inspired by legendary pillars of heavy metal such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, The Scorpions, and Rush, this four-piece is well known for their energetic and electrifying stage presence, as well as intricate musical melodies that bring listeners back to a time when heavy metal was in its prime. Formed in Surrey, B.C. Canada, in June of 2011, the band’s core members were Chris Osterman on guitar and vocals, bassist Leighton Holmes, and drummer Amanda Osterman, joined by Jordan Wright on guitar. This quickly changed, after recording their debut album ‘Curse Of The Voodoo Queen’ Jordan was replaced by guitarist Kenny Kroecher. ‘Curse Of The Voodoo Queen’ was released on Dec 14, 2011, and the band took the opportunity to tour western Canada, along with an appearance on the TV Show, Canada’s Got Talent. With the debut album receiving little attention, the group decided it was time to record a new album, and by April 26, 2013, ‘Gates Of Eternity’ was released. Garnering some strong reviews coming in around the world, attention was growing, and the band was invited to perform at Germany’s Keep It True XVII festival. This opened up many new avenues for the act to pursue, including some serious time on the road through Canada in 2013, and Europe in 2014, followed by a tour in the USA with California’s Night Demon. The band had created some major momentum and Iron Kingdom was spreading their moniker far and wide in support of the first two releases. On July 30, 2015, Iron Kingdom released not one, but two more albums, ‘Ride For Glory’ their 3rd full-length album, as well as ‘Unleashed at the Kraken (Live in Seattle)’ an exclusive live E.P. recorded on a previous tour. The band set out on the road again in support of the two new releases. The tour was unfortunately riddled with many trials, including a vehicle accident that almost killed the band members. Following the tour, Amanda decided to step back from the band to pursue other commitments. Joey Paul then took her place behind the kit. Life on the road continued, including a massive North American tour in 2016, as well as a tour in Brazil in a supporting slot for former frontman of Iron Maiden, Blaze Bayley. After many performances, guitarist Kenny and drummer Joey departed, thus leaving the door open for Chris Sonea, and Megan Merrick, on drums and guitar respectively. It took four years for the follow-up album after ‘Ride For Glory’, but finally on Oct 4, 2019, ‘On The Hunt’ was released. This was the fourth full-length release from this traditional metal act. Iron Kingdom toured ‘On The Hunt’ immediately with an extensive North American tour in the fall of 2019, and shortly after, toured Europe in March of 2020. Thankfully the band was able to perform the majority of their European dates, but unfortunately, COVID-19 took its toll and their final performance was canceled. At the return of the tour, drummer Chris Sonea decided to depart from the group, and the band (now consisting of band members, Leighton Holmes, Chris Osterman, and Megan Merrick) began auditions to fill the void on the drums. In the Spring of 2020, Max Friesen joined the band, taking his seat behind the kit, and once again, Iron Kingdom stands ready to take the world by storm and aid in the revival of the mighty and classic sounds of Traditional Heavy Metal. Their new album “The Blood of Creation” is scheduled to be released in Fall 2022.
With their critically acclaimed new studio album Malicious Intent,MALEVOLENCE has staked out their place as one of contemporary metal’s heavyweight acts.
These rising UK stars are now out to conquer the world, undertaking a huge run of major live dates this summer and into 2023. After blowing away audiences at the likes of Download Festival UK, Knotfest Germany, and the Bring Me The Horizon Malta Weekender, following on from a UK arena tour with ARCHITECTS and SLEEP TOKENl,the British bruisers are pleased to announce more shows.
Malevolence has revealed two new headline shows this August, in Colchester (UK) and Paris (FR), before they launch into two German shows supporting LAMB OF GOD, followed by an Australian run in September with THY ART IS MURDER, CARNIFEX, and I AM. The band will also be accompanying TRIVIUM on their extensive EU tour leg, with HEAVEN SHALL BURN and OBITUARY, following on from the UK shows.
To support these dates, the band has today released a brand new video to accompany the album highlight “Higher Place”. Showing off their creative breadth, the single breaks with their usual aggressive metal swagger. “Higher Place” is a show-stopping, southern groove-flavored ballad.
Front-man Alex Taylor commented, “‘Higher Place’ focuses on a subject that everyone will deal with at some point in loss; death/bereavement. This is one most heartfelt songs we have written as a band, however, once we began writing this song, it came together very naturally. This song is a huge step outside our comfort zone, we hope you enjoy it! The visuals for this song were our first venture into a narrative-driven video, filmed in our hometown of Sheffield. We worked closely with Enon Films to bring the concept to life.
Video Director Gabriel Fernández-Gil commented, “The song inspired sorrow, drama, and a dark epicness, which is what guided us in the making of this video. In the story, you’ll be able to identify themes of loss, revenge, and the UK’s knife-crime epidemic. As the lyrics and instrumentation, our characters “ascend” to different metaphorical planes of existence or lack thereof.”
To accompany the video, the band has released an alternative acoustic version of “Higher Place” digitally, giving fans yet another glimpse into MALEVOLENCE‘s bottomless artistic flair.
THE OFFERING releases their new track and music video for “WASP” today. The song is off of the band’s forthcoming full-length album, Seeing The Elephant, which is set for release on November 4th. Check out the band’s 7 minute politically-charged opening track below.
With Seeing the Elephant, THE OFFERING have woven together a record as rich, adventurous and heartfelt as anything you’re bound to hear anytime soon. Conceived during the chaos of the 2020 protests and the ensuing warzone of cultural upheaval, Seeing the Elephant is a challenging (and ultimately rewarding) record for extreme times.
“’WASP’ is first and foremost a chew out,” statesAlexander Richichi (vocals) about “WASP”.
Nishad George (guitar) adds, “’WASP’ is one of the most ambitious songs we’ve ever made. It was written only just a month before hitting the studio! We felt that with such a bold and emotionally charged album, we needed to set the mood and start as aggressive as possible. WASP is, to us, a seven minute statement to let everyone know that we are back, we have much to say, and that musically, we’re as free and unhindered as ever.”
Vocalist Alex Richichi and guitarist Nishad George construct a new framework from past work with the help of mixer Zach Weeks (Kvelertak, The Armed) at the Salem, Massachusetts’ renowned God City Studios, proving THE OFFERING as a band that not only challenges the norm but one that will refine and redefine them.
In the past, the foursome have warmed crowds for diverse acts such as Primal Fear, Rhapsody of Fire, Prong, Genitorturers, 36 Crazyfists, and have been a fan-favorite at the main stage of the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival. Right before the release of HOME they played European festivals such as Wacken Open Air, Fezen Festival and Gefle Metal Festival.
THE OFFERING is Alexander Richichi (vocals), Nishad George (guitar), Spencer Metela (bass) and Steve Finn (drums).
