07.29.05 (RockAndMetal.com) Universal Music has announced the September 5th DVD premiere release of "The Police - Synchronicity Concert," a stunning live-in-concert live extravaganza filmed during the Atlanta, Georgia leg of their Synchronicity World Tour in November of 1983. Three additional songs are taken from their Montreal show in August of that same year: 'Demolition Man,' 'O My God' and 'Murder By Numbers.' As an additional feature, the new release also includes a rare interview with THE POLICE from their final concert on the Synchronicity World Tour (and the last-ever POLICE concert), which was in Melbourne, Australia in 1984. 21 years later, this spectacular concert has never sounded better. For the very first time on DVD, the audio has been remixed in 5.1 Surround Sound, and includes three different audio soundtracks including DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo. Originally directed and edited by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, this energetic and power-packed live concert brilliantly captures THE POLICE at the height of their success, when "Synchronicity" ruled the radio airwaves and the trio were one of the biggest bands in the world. The songs performed during the concert include their most memorable hit singles, including 'So Lonely,' 'Roxanne,' 'Message In A Bottle,' 'De Do Do Do De Da Da Da,' and 'Every Breath You Take,' plus several songs taken from the "Synchronicity album," including 'King Of Pain,' 'Wrapped Around Your Finger,' 'Walking In Your Footsteps,' 'Tea In The Sahara,' 'Oh My God' and 'Murder By Numbers.' "The Police - Synchronicity Concert" also boasts exclusive live performances filmed in multi-angle, including for the very first time 'Synchronicity II,' plus 'Don't Stand So Close To Me,' 'Invisible Sun,' and 'Roxanne.' In addition to the Synchronicity Concert Multi-Angle Tracks, DVD extras include previously unreleased concert footage taken from the "Synchronicity" concert in Montreal, Canada where THE POLICE perform 'Demolition Man' and 'Murder By Numbers.' The promotional trailer for the original theatrical release of "The Police - Synchronicity Concert" is also included here. Although "Synchronicity" would be THE POLICE's most commercially successful album, and lead to a sold-out tour (including a stop at New York's Shea Stadium), it would turn out to be the trio's fifth and final studio album and world tour. One of 1983's biggest singles, the haunting 'Every Breath You Take' is an obvious highlight, as well as the rare... [full story]

07.29.05 (RockAndMetal.com) Polish Extreme Death Metallers DECAPITATED will enter Hertz Studios in Bialystok, Poland on Monday with producers Slawek and Wojtek Wieslawski to begin recording their new album, entitled "Organic Hallucinosis." It will be the first recording to feature new DECAPITATED vocalist Covan, formerly of ATROPHIA RED SUN, who replaced the recently departed Sauron. As any fan of the genre will tell you, there's Death Metal and then there's Real Death Metal. Plain old Death Metal is a scene populated by those content to follow established patterns, basing their sound on the blueprint of years gone by and expecting little more than the acknowledgement and respect of their peers. Real Death Metal, however, is a more sparsely filled enviroment, inhabitated by those who have desire to take the sound and attitude that little bit further. Bands residing there use imagination, ability and undiluted belief to get where they are going. It is such a world that Polish quartet DECAPITATED choose to call home - a world they seek to dominate with their distinctive brand of technically flawless Death Metal. DECAPITATED are not what you might call your average band. Formed in 1996 when the average age of the band members was just 14 years old, based in Krosno, Southern Poland, all attending music school yet facing ridicule with the release of their "Cemeteral Gardens" demo in June of 1997 due to their young age, they succeeded in wiping the smiles from the doubters with a sound that -- while showing a debt to Death Metal heroes of the past -- convinced many that the band were out of the ordinary. Bands like DECAPITATED don't come along very often, and when they do, they tend to let their music do the talking - something this band does in the most vicious, precise and innovative way possible. DECAPITATED have also just announced confirmed dates for the UK and Irish leg of their "Sensual Sickness" European tour with GOREROTTED, DETONATION and DAM. Tour Dates: 09/13 Liverpool, UK [Zanzibar Club] • 09/14 Brighton, UK [Concorde 2] • 09/15 Nottingham, UK [The Basement @ Rock City] • 09/16 Cork, IR [An Cruiscin Lan] • 09/17 Dublin, IR [The Voodoo Lounge] • 09/18 Belfast, UK [The Limelight] • 09/19 Glasgow, UK [The Barfly] • 09/20 Manchester, UK [Jilly's Rockworld] • 09/21 Bristol, UK [Bierkeller] • 09/22 Leeds, UK [Joseph's Well] • 09/23 Birmingham, UK [Edwards No. 8] • 09/24 London, UK [Camden Underworld]
[WATCH]

07.28.05 (AP) A collection of JOHN LENNON memorabilia valued by experts at more than $2 million will being auctioned in London later today. The sale includes youthful paintings and handwritten lyrics, jackets, eyeglasses and even furniture from the late former BEATLES member's home. The most valuable items have been gathered over 25 years by one anonymous American collector. Auctioneer Cooper Owen, a company that specializes in music and film memorabilia, says it constitutes "the most definitive collection of John Lennon memorabilia ever assembled." A Cooper Owen spokesman said the auction, which began in the evening, was expected to continue until late into the night. The centerpiece of the sale at London's Hippodrome nightclub is a page of hand-written lyrics to the song 'All You Need Is Love,' salvaged from JOHN LENNON's music stand after THE BEATLES' final TV appearance in 1967, estimated to have a value of between $870,000 and $1 million. Cooper Owen director Ted Owen said the manuscript was "the Holy Grail of Beatles lyrics." "It's probably one of the few remaining Beatles lyrics in private collectors' hands and one of the most important musical manuscripts in existence," Owen said. "It was the anthem of the peace movement ... the anthem of 1967." The sale included other items that loom large in the history of the 1960s. The Vox Continental organ that Lennon played during THE BEATLES' famous Shea Stadium concert in New York in 1965 is also up for auction, expected to fetch more than $350,000. The tunic of a World War I military band member, worn by JOHN LENNON for a 1966 Life magazine photo shoot - and a possible inspiration for the group's martial look on the cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" - was valued at least $175,000. The bedspread from Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1969 Montreal "bed-in," embroidered with the message "all you need is love," carries an estimate of at least $53,000. While BEATLES memorabilia is among the most coveted by Rock collectors, past auctions have sometimes been disappointing. Last year, an autograph Lennon signed shortly before he was shot and killed outside his Manhattan apartment building in 1980 failed to reach its minimum price of $143,000 at a Cooper Owen auction. But Pete Nash, a memorabilia expert with the British Beatles Fan Club, said many of the items in Thursday's sale were special. "It's lovely, lovely stuff," Nash said. "There are some real museum pieces. It's not the usual run-of-the-mill memorabilia." He said the most expensive items, beyond the reach of most BEATLES collectors, would likely go to "about 20 heavy-duty collectors in the world who seem to have unlimited funds."
[WATCH]

07.28.05 (RockAndMetal.com) EWIGKEIT have completed work on a new album for Earache Records, entitled "Conspiritus." Recorded and engineered by the group's main player James Fogarty, "Conspiritus" is due for release on August 29th. Conspiritus is an analysis of a hypothetical reality in which the world is controlled and manipulated by shadowy figures hiding behind multi-national corporations, the media machine, international banks and the global military. Over the ten tracks on the album, Fogarty's lyrical themes explore the ways in which the shadowy elite have managed to manipulate, enslave and exploit mankind; from slavery via debt through manufactured diseases, to control through the media -- all woven into a non-stop seamless cinematic journey in sound which encompasses the characteristics of Metal, Rock, and sample-based Electronic music -- as gratifying to devotees of PINK FLOYD as it could be to fans of the regimented grimace of KILLING JOKE. EWIGKEIT (pronounced "Ay-vig-kite," which means "eternity" in German) began life in Brighton, UK in the mid 90's as a studio-based project when a young James Fogarty became disillusioned playing in generic Thrash and Metal bands. He originally wanted to experiment with more Ambient and Progressive elements combined with a predominantly Metal-based mix. EWIGKEIT's early demos were a combination of heavy riffs morphed into layers of Ambience to unusual effect. A final demo, "Dwellers On The Threshold," was well-received, after which well-known NWOBHM label Neat Records released EWIGKEIT's debut album, "Battle Furies," in 1997. EWIGKEIT's Progressive leanings and Experimentation were seen as "different" at the time, but it still was not enough for Fogarty, who truly wanted to create a unique sound of his own. He developed his programming and keyboard skills for the release of 1999's "Starscape," while at the same time co-founding Black Metal band THE MEADS OF ASPHODEL, for whom he wrote, produced and recorded three demos, along with the albums "The Excommunication Of Christ" and "Jihad." Meanwhile, a third album from EWIGKEIT, entitled "Land Of Fog," was released via Metal Age Productions - by that time Neat Records having been bought out by Sanctuary Records more for the value of their back catalog than their roster of active artists. In 2004, EWIGKEIT signed a recording deal with Earache, who released the highly-regarded "Radio Ixtlan" (hailed by some as "a 'Dark Side Of The Moon' for the Death Metal generation") last July.
[LISTEN]

07.27.05 (RockAndMetal.com) Rock saviors FIREBALL MINISTRY have officially joined the roster of Liquor And Poker Music. The L.A.-based label will release the group's upcoming new album, "Their Rock Is Not Our Rock," on October 18. Produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver, Queens Of The Stone Age) and engineered by Mike Terry (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Ash, Halford), "Their Rock Is Not Our Rock" is the quartet's third full-length album, and their first featuring new bassist Johny Chow (Systematic, My Ruin). Its release will be preceded by a nationwide Adio Footwear-sponsored tour in support of CKY, which kicks off August 8 in San Diego. FIREBALL MINISTRY, which also features vocalist/guitarist Rev. James A. Rota II, guitarist Emily J. Burton and drummer John Oreshnick - broke ground on their "first church of rock 'n' roll" in the late 1990s. They soon developed a devoted cult following with their first two releases, "Ou Est La Rock? and 2001's "F.M.E.P.," as well as their memorable live performances. But it wasn't until 2003's "The Second Great Awakening," also produced by Raskulinecz, that the group's powerhouse Rock was granted a worldwide pulpit. In support of the critically acclaimed album, the band toured America with the likes of DIO, ANTHRAX, MOTORHEAD and ANDREW W.K., while European touring alongside BLUE OYSTER CULT, URIAH HEEP and CKY converted many overseas believers. FIREBALL MINISTRY have also toured and/or shared the stage with Modern Rock and Metal heavyweights like MASTODON, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, FEAR FACTORY, THE DATSUNS, DIMMU BORGIR, HATEBREED, ILL NINO, SLIPKNOT, SOILWORK, LAMB OF GOD, LIFE OF AGONY, SHADOWS FALL, SOULFLY and TURBONEGRO. "We are very happy to announce our joining forces with Liquor and Poker," Rota said. "We hope that you all will find the new album as enjoyable as you did the last one. If you don't, there's plenty of other shit out there masking itself as party rock, so gel up your hair and bust out the eyeliner. Nick and Mike have been forging a slab of stone so heavy that you better buy it its own 12-pack when you get it home. 'Their Rock Is Not Our Rock'...enough said." FIREBALL MINISTRY are currently featured on "Bam Margera Presents: Viva La Bands," a compilation album assembled by MTV skateboarding personality of "Jackass" and "Viva La Bam" fame. FIREBALL MINISTRY recently performed live during an in-store appearance alongside Margera at the Virgin Megastore on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles this past Monday afternoon.
[FREE MP3]

07.27.05 (RockAndMetal.com) Fantasy Metallers BATTLELORE's third studio album, "Third Age Of The Sun," has just been released. The band's recent line-up changes don't appear to have hurt BATTLELORE much, but seem to have paved the way for positive musical developments within the band. New vocalist Tomi Mykkanen's versatile vocal approach, for example, not only harmonizes with Kaisa Jouhki's melodious voice, but his growls also add much color to the arrangements. Even Jouhki's own vocals seem to have become more powerful and have acquired a more emotive and an even more elfen-like quality. "Third Age Of The Sun" is much more melodious and sweeping than its two predecessors, and it becomes obvious that variety and BATTLELORE's delight in playing is at the forefront of this album, which delivers yet another interesting Epic sound experience consisting of 13 new tales that revolve around Middle Earth. More impressive and atmospheric than before, "Third Age Of The Sun" showcases BATTLELORE spiriting the listener away to a world full of energetic tension and fantasy. Current Guitarist Jyri Vahvanen and former bassist Miika Kokkola founded BATTLELORE in 1999. That same year, their first promo CD, "Warrior's Tale," was sent out to major record labels to be reviewed, but failed to attract much attention. However, the band didn't give up - instead BATTLELORE strengthened their unique style and pushed harder on forward. By 2000, the band had accumulated a complete set of new songs, with which they recorded "Dark Fantasy," their second promotional CD. That recording earned the band some well-deserved positive feedback, after which a recording deal was struck with Austria's Napalm Records. In the Fall of 2001, BATTLELORE recorded their first full-length album, "...Where The Shadows Lie," which resulted in good reviews overall. The band's second album, "Sword's Song," was released in the Spring of 2003, that offering taking them to a totally new level in their music, while BATTLELORE's first-ever live DVD, entitled "The Journey," saw the light of day at the beginning of 2004, featuring an energetic live show by the band at Tavastia. Come August, vocalist Patrik Mennander left BATTLELORE to pursue work as a tattoo artist. Mennander was replaced by Mykkanen after the end of the band's "Atlantis Lovelorn" tour, for which the band used a session singer.
[LISTEN]

07.26.05 (RockAndMetal.com) As New Jersey Rockers HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW prepare to hit the road for their month-long headlining tour, the band has reached a significant career milestone: over one million plays on PureVolume.com. Only 16 artists have achieved a million plays on the site, which features over 152,000 artists. HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW now join THE STARTING LINE, FALL OUT BOY, UNDEROATH, and label-mates HELLOGOODBYE with over one million plays and counting. Workhorses of the Drive-Thru Records label, HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW have been touring pretty much non-stop since their February full-length debut, "Life In Dreaming." The band blew fans away on this Summer's Warped Tour and Bamboozle Festival, and have played over 130 shows this year for audiences in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Japan. HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW (vocalist Joe Reo, guitarist/vocalist Rob Freeman, guitarist Mike Saffert, bassist Chris Amato and drummer Spencer Peterson) are currently zigzagging across the U.S. playing live shows. Tour Dates: 08/18 New York, NY [The Knitting Factory] • 08/19 Lancaster, PA [Chameleon] • 08/20 Trenton, NJ [Sovereign Bank Arena] • 08/21 Philadelphia, PA [Theatre Of Living Arts] • 08/25 Ann Arbor, MI [Blind Pig] • 08/26 Chicago, IL [Metro] • 08/27 St. Louis, MO [Creepy Crawl] • 08/28 Lawrence, KS [The Granada] • 08/30 Denver, CO [Rock Island] • 08/31 Salt Lake City, UT [Lo Fi Cafe] • 09/01 Boise, ID [The Venue] • 09/02 Spokane, WA [Big Dipper] • 09/03 Seattle, WA [Bumbershoot Festival] • 09/04 Portland. OR [Loveland] • 09/06 San Francisco, CA [Slim's] • 09/07 Bakersfield, CA [Montgomery World Plaza] • 09/08 Las Vegas, NV [Jillian's] • 09/09 Los Angeles, CA [El Rey Theatre] • 09/10 Anaheim, CA [Chain Reaction] • 09/11 San Diego, CA [Epicentre] • 09/13 Tempe. AZ [The Clubhouse] • 09/14 Albuquerque, NM [Launchpad] • 09/15 Dallas, TX [Trees] • 09/16 Austin, TX [Emo's] • 09/17 Spring, TX [Java Jazz] • 09/18 Shreveport, LA [516 Soundstage] • 09/19 Lafayette, LA [Cafe Chi Alpha] • 09/20 Orlando, FL [The Social] • 09/21 St. Petersburg, FL [State Theatre] • 09/23 Atlanta, GA [Masquerade] • 09/24 Charlotte, NC [Tremont Music Hall] • 09/25 Falls Church, VA [Providence Recreation Center]
[LISTEN]

07.26.05 (RockAndMetal.com) NIGHTWISH have completed a new video for 'The Siren,' the third single from their platinum-selling album, "Once." The video goes a different route this time around, as it was created with mostly animated scenes. In other NIGHTWISH news, John Two-Hawks, a Native American hailing from Arkansas, will appear on the stage to perform the song 'Creek Mary's Blood' with the band during their upcoming concert at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland on October 21st. 'Creek Mary's Blood' was composed by NIGHTWISH keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, and is also featured on the "Once" album. On 'Creek Mary's Blood,' John Two-Hawks plays the flute and reads a poem translated to his native language. The song has never before been performed by its original recording lineup. "Once Upon A Tour 2004-2005" has also been selling out venues around the world for nearly 18 months now, and the group are now looking fowrward to ending the tour on their home turf. At more than 150 shows on all continents, more than one million spectators have now witnessed the band playing live this year. The Hartwall Arena show will be their last before NIGHTWISH take a lengthy break, estimated to last for at least 18 months, during which they will compose and record the follow-up to "Once." NIGHTWISH will be also filming the Helsinki show for future release as a full-length DVD. The director will be Antti Jokinen, who has previously worked with the group on the 'Nemo' video. Also appearing on the bill will be SONATA ARCTICA. The show will be recorded with 20 cameras, which is unheard of in Finland. But then again, not many bands have sold 2.5 million records and are able to present a spectacle featuring such an arsenal of sound, light, visuals and pyro effects. You may not know NIGHTWISH yet, but the Finnish Gothic Symphonic Metallers are a phenomenon throughout the rest of the world. On first listen, they seem to fall into the same genre as EVANESCENCE, LACUNA COIL and THE GATHERING, each female-fronted bands with Symphonic and Gothic overtones. But any other similarities end there. First of all, NIGHTWISH vocalist Tarja Turunen may be the only formally trained Opera singer in Metal these days, and her vocal prowess and range prove it. Listen closely, and you'll hear a group that's equally influenced by Opera, Classical music, Euro Metal, early Thrash and even Kate Bush. NIGHTWISH actually formed as an acoustic band in Kitee, Finland in 1997, though they quickly switched to an electric sound.
[WATCH]

07.25.05 (Reuters) The original drummer for THE DOORS has won a permanent injunction in Los Angeles, California preventing his ex-bandmates from using the Rock group's name while touring with a revamped version of the legendary 1960s act. The Los Angeles Superior Court order also requires keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger, who have been touring as THE DOORS OF THE 21ST CENTURY, to turn over all the profits earned by the new combo to the original DOORS partnership. The decision represents a major victory for DOORS drummer John Densmore, who told Reuters he was concerned that the band's legacy was being tarnished by its reincarnation as an oldies act. Manzarek and Krieger, along with British singer Ian Astbury (formerly of THE CULT) subbing for the late Jim Morrison, are currently touring Canada as headliners of the "Strange Days" festival, which also features such bands as STEPPENWOLF, THE YARDBIRDS and VANILLA FUDGE. "They're playing Doors songs and calling themselves the Doors of the 21st Century. I kinda think it's the 19th century, it's looking back," said Densmore, who plays original music with his own band, TRIBAL JAZZ. He teamed up with Morrison's estate -- represented by the parents of both Morrison and Morrison's late wife, Pamela Courson -- to sue Krieger and Manzarek in early 2003. Under an agreement struck in 1971, the year Morrison died in Paris, all three surviving members as well as the Morrison estate must sign off on any use of the DOORS name and logo. "I'm very pleased that, in my opinion, the legacy is preserved," added Densmore. "I never intended for Ray and Robby to stop playing -- they're great musicians. I hope Doors fans keep going to see them -- it's just the name is owned by me and them and the estate of Jim Morrison, and they kinda ran off with stolen property." Densmore estimated that Manzarek and Krieger have earned "millions and millions of dollars" on the road in recent years, more than the original band ever made. A management representative for Krieger and Manzarek in Los Angeles did not return a call. THE DOORS rose to fame in the late 1960s with such songs as 'Light My Fire' and 'Touch Me.' After Morrison, their provocative frontman and self-styled "lizard king" died of a heart attack, the band eventually folded. THE DOORS' mythology exploded with the 1980 publication of the Doors biography "No One Here Gets Out Alive," and then with Oliver Stone's 1991 movie, "The Doors."

07.25.05 (RockAndMetal.com) Swedish Thrash titans THE HAUNTED are currently annihilating crowds at Ozzfest, which is the group's first U.S. run since wrapping up the Devastation Across The Nation Tour alongside SHADOWS FALL and DAMAGEPLAN last year. They recently completed a new video for the song 'No Compromise' with acclaimed director Roger Johansson (In Flames, Soilwork). Look for it to premiere on Fuse's "Metal Asylum" and on MTV2's "Headbangers Ball" next weekend. THE HAUNTED's vocalist Peter Dolving checks in with the following report from the road, after playing two shows in twelve hours: "It's going to be a long hot summer. My mind is slowly accepting it. I've gone soft in the time that we've been off tour, but now I am paying for it. My body is prepared, but the mind has no way getting ready for the complete assault on the senses a tour like this is. Outside it's in the nineties, and inside it's freezing, causing all the muscles to ache, while my sick libido pushes me hard. "The show in Hartford was amazing, and it was great to see the kids embracing us. This feels new, but unfortunately I did a stupid thing going on stage with no shoes, and now my feet have two aching sores. I need these types of physical rewards. After the show I was so pissed off - we played 21 seconds too long, so the stage manager came screaming in my face the moment I walked off stage. I went running for an hour until I collapsed, drank water and fell asleep. We just played a killer off-date in Burlington, Vermont at 9PM only to take the stage twelve hours later in Camden, New Jersey. Still, for some twisted reason, I really dig the self-torture involved in this." For bands that matter, the formula of their sound often rests with one or more key founding members. In the case of THE HAUNTED, who were spawned in the mid-'90s, vocalist Peter Dolving and guitarist Anders Bjorler were the band's seminal architects. - further proven by the long-anticipated return of Dolving to the fold on the group's current album, "rEVOLVEr," in 2004. With only the inspiration of their anger as a guide, THE HAUNTED prove that their art is not an attempt to solve the problems caused by the pathology of civilization. The band's only concern is to state those problems correctly. States Peter Dolving: "It's only natural to seek out oblivion. It's the only way we can survive once we see the horror of this sick society," proving that revolt is absolutely necessary to counter a mindless existence.
[LISTEN]

[ Music News: 07.18.05 - 07.24.05 ]
[ Top ]