Video footage of powerhouse American vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, BEYOND FEAR, ex-JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH) performing several heavy metal and hard rock classics with the Peruvian band BLIZZARD on September 27, 2009 in Lima, Peru can be viewed below.

Owens recently wrapped up a short European tour as the support act for HEAVEN & HELL.

Owens' backing band for the trek consisted of the following musicians:

Chris Caffery (SAVATAGE, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORHCESTRA) - Guitar
John Comprix (BEYOND FEAR, RINGWORM) - Guitar
David Ellefson (MEGADETH, F5) - Bass
Simon Wright (AC/DC, DIO) - Drums

"Play My Game", the first solo album from Tim "Ripper" Owens, landed at position No. 66 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Play My Game" was released via SPV/Steamhammer. The offering consists of around a dozen brand-new tracks that Owens composed himself or together with renowned friends, such as Bob Kulick, Chris Caffery (SAVATAGE, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA), Mike Callahan (ex-EARSHOT) and John Comprix (BEYOND FEAR, RINGWORM).

"Sick Bubblegum" and "What?", two brand new songs from Rob Zombie, are available for streaming in the YouTube clips below. Both tracks come off the singer's fourth solo album, "Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool", which is scheduled for release on November 17 via Geffen.

Zombie hinted in an online post that his new CD could be his last, saying, "Well, pretty soon the CD will be dead. All you will have left is digital downloads. So before we say goodbye to the almighty CD, I thought I would give it a big send-off. I love being able to get great artists involved on my CD artwork and this time is the best yet. Since this may be the last true CD I make, I thought I would gather three of the top artists around to contribute some killer new Zombie art for the booklet."

The artists contributing work to the CD's booklet are Nocturnals comic book creator Dan Brereton, animation and storyboard artist David Hartman and Italian artist Alex Horley, who has worked for Image Comics and DC Comics.

"Hellbilly Deluxe 2" track listing:

01. Jesus Frankenstein
02. Sick Bubblegum
03. What?
04. Mars Needs Women
05. Werewolf, Baby!
06. Virgin Witch
07. Death and Destiny Inside The Dream Factory
08. Burn
09. Cease to Exist
10. Werewolf Women of the SS
11. The Man Who Laughs

Check out the cover artwork below.

The track "What?" heads to rock radio this week.

Rob Zombie will kick off his upcoming North American tour on October 29 in Phoenix, Arizona, according to a press release. he will hit the road with the same band that toured behind his 2006 CD, "Educated Horses", consisting of guitarist John 5, bassist Piggy D. and drummer Tommy Clufetos. Although Zombie is also busy these days directing movies, he told The Pulse of Radio he can always count on his current bandmates to return. "Whenever I'm making a movie they go off and do whatever they want, but they're all part of this band," he said. "We just did all of our photos for the tour and stuff. It's the same band, it's just that I know those guys get itchy to play."

Support on the tour will come from NEKROMANTIX and CAPTAIN CLEGG & THE NIGHT CREATURES. The latter band appeared in Zombie's latest film, "Halloween II".

The trek will include a very special Halloween event on October 31 in Hollywood, California hosted by Uncle Seymour Coffins, also seen in "Halloween II".

The "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" tour will mark Zombie's return to the road after moderate box office success as the writer and director of "Halloween II" (Dimension). His R-rated, animated feature, "The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto", was made available everywhere on DVD and Blu-ray September 22.

Zombie will return to the stage on October 18, when he co-headlines Loud Park festival in Japan with SLAYER that will also feature PAPA ROACH.

"Halloween II", the follow-up to Zombie's successful 2007 remake of the original 1978 horror classic, came in at No. 3 in its opening weekend, earning $17 million at the box office. That's far less than the $31 million his first "Halloween" flick did two years ago.

Zombie's next film will be a remake of "The Blob", which he is slated to begin shooting in the spring of 2010.

"Sick Bubblegum" audio stream:



"What?" audio stream:

Fuse/Billboard's "The Daily Noise" recently spoke with AEROSMITH guitarist Joe Perry about his upcoming solo album, new AEROSMITH music, and the recent struggles faced by the band. Watch the interview below.

Perry's fifth solo album, "Have Guitar, Will Travel", will be released on October 6 via Roman Records. The hard driving, ten-song, in your face, collection features Perry's trademark rock and blues ferocity. Recorded this past spring at the Boneyard, Perry's state-of-the-art home studio, where AEROSMITH's "Honkin' On Bobo" and "Just Push Play" were recorded, "Have Guitar, Will Travel" is entirely written and produced by Perry.

"Have Guitar, Will Travel" track listing:

01. We've Got a Long Way To Go
02. Slingshot
03. Do You Wonder
04. Somebody's Gonna Get (Their Head Kicked In Tonight)
05. Heaven and Hell
06. No Surprise
07. Wooden Ships
08. Oh Lord (21 Grams)
09. Scare The Cat
10. Freedom

Check out audio samples at this location.

"We've Got A Long Way To Go", the CDs first single, showcases the voice of a young German singer known as Hagen, found completely by chance on YouTube by Joe's wife Billie. "I first called him from Cleveland when I went to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame jam with Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ron Wood, Flea and METALLICA," said Perry. "It took several minutes to convince him that it wasn't a prank call, but a true invitation to audition to sing on the CD." Hagen mans the microphone for five tracks, while Perry sings lead on four. The remaining tenth song is an instrumental entitled "Wooden Ships".

A six-week Twitter search was conducted to find the CDs title. The winner, out of nearly 2000 entries, was Joe Piscitelli, who used a play on the old CBS television program "Have Gun – Will Travel".

The release of "Have Guitar, Will Travel" follows self-produced solo releases including "Let The Music Do The Talking" (1980), "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker" (1983), "I've Got The Rock 'N' Rolls Again" (1981) and 2005's "Joe Perry", which received universal critical praise and earned Perry his first solo Grammy nomination for "Best Instrumental Song" ("Mercy").

Video footage of the Italian rock/metal act LACUNA COILperforming an acoustic version of the song "Spellbound" on September 26, 2009 at Half Penny Pub in Syracuse, New York can be viewed below.

LACUNA COIL recently stopped by the Sirius XM office in New York City for a special acoustic, in-studio performance of its Active Rock hit singles "I Won't Tell You" and "Spellbound". This performance will debut on Sirius XM's Octane channel next week, alongside a slew of interview segments, which spans the course of the entire week. See below for the entire on-air schedule and don't forget to catch the band on the road this entire fall throughout North America on the "HardDrive Live Tour" that also features genre titans ALL THAT REMAINS, with MAYLENE AND THE SONS OF DISASTER, FROM SWORD TO SUNRISE (first leg) and TAKING DAWN (second leg).

LACUNA COIL interview breaks with Kayla
Octane - Sirius 20 / XM 48

Monday, Oct. 5 @ 1 p.m. EST (Part 1)
Tuesday, Oct. 6 @ 2 p.m. EST (Part 2)
Wednesday, Oct. 7 @ 3 p.m. EST (Part 3)
Thursday, Oct. 8 @ 4 p.m. EST (Part 4)
Friday, Oct. 9 @ 5 p.m. EST (Part 5)

LACUNA COIL also hosted a Liquid Metal Takeover (an hour-long Sirius XM exclusive featuring station's core artists picking out their favorite songs from the world of metal and beyond). You'll hear LACUNA COIL-approved tracks from MEGADETH, TYPE O NEGATIVE, PANTERA, CARCASS, RAMMSTEIN, LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA, WHITE ZOMBIE, SLIPKNOT and more! See below for all air times.

LACUNA COIL Liquid Metal Takeover

Liquid Metal - Sirius 27 / XM 42

Thursday, Oct. 8th @ 6 p.m. ET
Friday, Oct. 9th @ 12 p.m. ET
Saturday, Oct. 10th @ 3 p.m. ET
Sunday, Oct. 11th @ 10 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Oct. 13th @ 5 p.m. ET

WILDESTARR, the band featuring original VICIOUS RUMORS bassist Dave Starr (now on all guitar and bass) and vocalist London Wilde, was interviewed on last Sunday's (September 27) edition of the "Heavy Metal Mayhem" show on Blogtalkradio.com. The entire program is now available for streaming below.

WILDESTARR released its debut album, "Arrival", on August 1. According to a press release, the CD contains "10 original tracks of searing melodic metal, in the vein of JUDAS PRIEST, VICIOUS RUMORS, SAVATAGE and EVANESCENCE."

Dave previously stated about "Arrival", "We have spent the last three years working on this record, and the results are just amazing. It has been a real labor of love for London and I, and this is by far the best record I have ever done in my career. Although I am very proud of my past with VICIOUS RUMORS and all the great records we did, I can honestly say that this new album is better than anything I have ever done before. Great songs, great playing, great production, and London is going to really turn some heads with her amazing vocals; I have never heard a woman sound like this before, she has pipes that people are comparing to Rob Halford, Geoff Tate, and Carl Albert."

"Arrival" was released on WILDESTARR's own label, Furnace Maximus Records. The video for the title track/first single will also be made available.

For more information and a free download of the album's title track, visit www.wildestarr.com.

WILDESTARR interviewed on "Heavy Metal Mayhem" (click on player below to launch audio):

Video footage of the test comps made for the forthcoming MUDVAYNE album, which will be printed entirely in blacklight-reactive ink, can be viewed below.

Blacklight ink or blacklight-reactive ink is ink that glows under a black light, a source of light whose wavelengths are primarily in the ultraviolet. The paint may or may not be colorful under ordinary light. It is also known as fluorescent paint.

MUDVAYNE frontman Chad Gray recently confirmed to Noisecreep that the band's next studio CD is "completely done." He said, "There's still no title for it yet, and we have no idea when we are putting it out ... no idea what's going on with it. This will come out whenever it comes out. We just recorded it to do it. We had time, and there wasn't anything going on last summer, so we went in, and recorded it."

MUDVAYNE's forthcoming album was produced by Dave Fortman's (SLIPKNOT, EVANESCENCE) right-hand man, Jeremy Parker, and is "a little more retro for MUDVAYNE" from a songwriting point of view, according to Gray. "We've been kind of making this natural progression, and I think for this one, we just sort of naturally regressed," he told Noisecreep. "We took the smarter songwriting guys that we've become and mixed it with the not-smart songwriting guys that we were ... I mean, we used to just take 20 parts, cram it together, and call it a song. Over time, playing in a band, you kind of know what to expect. It doesn't really make it easier, but you kind of have this thing in your head that you kind of know where you're going. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel before entering the tunnel. It's faint, and dim, but it' s there."

MUDVAYNE's fourth studio album, "The New Game", has sold more than 200,000 copies in the United States since it came out in November 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD shifted 48,000 units in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 15 on The Billboard 200 chart.

Veteran German hard rockers SCORPIONS took part in a special concert, dubbed "A Night To Remember", last night (Friday, October 2) at the Grugahalle in Essen, Germany, with special guests, former members/guitarists Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Hour 1
02. Loving You Sunday Morning
03. Is There Anybody There
04. Make It Real
05. The Zoo
06. Pictured Life (with Uli Jon Roth)
07. Backstage Queen (with Uli Jon Roth)
08. We'll Burn The Sky (with Uli Jon Roth)
09. Robot Man (with Uli Jon Roth)
10. Send Me An Angel
11. Holiday
12. Coast To Coast (with Michael Schenker)
13. Lovedrive (with Michael Schenker)
14. Another Piece Of Meat (with Michael Schenker)
15. Doctor Doctor (with Michael Schenker)
16. Tease Me, Please Me
17. 321
18. Kottak Attack
19. Blackout
20. Big City Nights

Encore:

21. Still Loving You
22. Wind Of Change
23. Long Tall Sally (with Uli Jon Roth & Michael Schenker)
24. Rock You Like Hurricane

Check out photos at this location.

Fan-filmed video footage of the show can be viewed below.

SCORPIONS recently spent time in the studio with Swedish producers Mikael "Nord" Andersson and Martin Hansen (the team behind THE RASMUS' "Dead Letters" CD) recording their new album for an early 2010 release.

SCORPIONS extended their record deal with Ariola, which is part of the international media conglomerate Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

The band's latest CD, "Humanity - Hour 1", was produced by James Michael and co-produced by songwriter/producer Desmond Child, who has worked with such high-profile pop/rock artists as AEROSMITH, BON JOVI, ALICE COOPER, KISS, RICKY MARTIN, CHER, MICHAEL BOLTON and BONNIE TYLER.

SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker will release his official German-language autobiography, "Rock Your Life", in Germany on October 14. An English-language version is also planned. More details will be revealed soon.

Scott Kara of NZHerald.co.nz recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On whether he has any real regrets about what he has done over the years:

"The only thing that is regrettable is when people die and you don't have a chance to say everything you need to say before they pass away. And I'm getting older and people who are in my age group, they're getting older too. That's why I've really been trying to make right with the people I've had differences with over the years because people die."

On his guitar playing:

"A lot of people play guitar very passively and strum it like Roberta Flack, like [he breaks into mock singing] 'Killing me softly ...'. But me, I just like to punch the guitar in the stomach and if the little bastard gets out of my hands at the end of the day then he's won his freedom. I look at the guitar as a weapon, not a paintbrush. I use my guitar to make a living and like I say, 'Killing is my business.'"

On MEGADETH's current lead guitarist, Chris Broderick:

"He's really shy. The guy is as big as a horse and he can play guitar circles around anybody. I'm pretty well regarded as a guitar player but I gotta say this guy is better. He's made me a better player. Not only did he pick up my style, but he did it faster and closer to the true style I have than any other guitar player I've worked with."

Read the entire interview at NZHerald.co.nz.

Guitarist Shane Clark of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based metallers 3 INCHES OF BLOOD was a featured guest on the September 19, 2009 edition of "The Classic Metal Show". The chat is now available for streaming using the audio player below.

"The Classic Metal Show" can be heard every Saturday night between 9:00 p.m. EST and 3:00 a.m. EST at www.cmsradio.net.

"Here Waits Thy Doom", the new album from 3 INCHES OF BLOOD, sold around 2,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD landed at position No. 8 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

3 INCHES OF BLOOD's previous album, "Fire Up The Blades", opened with 5,300 copies to enter The Billboard 200 chart at No. 147.

"Here Waits Thy Doom" was released on September 8 via Century Media Records (August 31 in Europe). The CD was recorded at Seattle's London Bridge Studios with renowned producer Jack Endino (HIGH ON FIRE).

3 INCHES OF BLOOD recently shot a video for the song "Battles and Brotherhood" with producer/director Rick Podd, who has worked on such movies as "The Watcher" and "Hellraiser". The band also performed a very special headlining, one-off CD-release show at The Knitting Factory in Los Angeles on September 9.

Shane Clark interview from September 19, 2009 edition of "The Classic Metal Show" (click below to launch audio):

The four members of ALICE IN CHAINS were interviewed on the September 28, 2009 edition of the "The BJ Shea Morning Experience" show on the Seattle station KISW 99.9 FM. Watch the chat in two parts below.

According to Hits Daily Double, the companion web site of music industry tip sheet HITS, ALICE IN CHAINS' new album, "Black Gives Way To Blue", is on track to sell between 130,000 and 140,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD will likely land in the Top 5 of next week's The Billboard 200 chart, behind latest albums from PARAMORE, MARIAH CAREY, BARBRA STREISAND and BREAKING BENJAMIN.

ALICE IN CHAINS recruited pop legend Elton John to contribute piano to the CD's title track, which is written in tribute to the band's late singer, Layne Staley.

AIC's new frontman, William DuVall, had played with his own group, COMES WITH THE FALL, as well as in guitarist Jerry Cantrell's solo band, before joining up with ALICE IN CHAINS in 2006.

"Black Gives Way to Blue" was recorded with producer Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, RUSH) at the Northridge, California studio of FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl.

Part 1:



Part 2:

Vocalist Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill of Irish dark metal masters PRIMORDIAL was interviewed for this week's edition of "The Governor's Ball". Also available is a chat with guitarist Paul Shields of the band CHOSEN. You can now stream the program in two parts using the audio player below.

PRIMORDIAL reissued its 1998 "Journey's End" album on September 1 in Europe via Metal Blade Records (August 29 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria). This deluxe reissue features the remastered version of "Journey's End" plus a high-quality live recording of the band's December 9, 1999 concert in Lisbon, Portugal. It comes as a double digipak package in a precious black linen slipcase with glossy golden hot foil print, containing a six-page digipak with the original artwork, the two discs and a 16-page booklet with new liner notes and additional photos.

"The Governor's Ball" (featuring interview with Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill of PRIMORDIAL):

Part 1:



Part 2:

Germany's PowerMetal.de recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH. Watch the chat below. Also available is fan-filmed video footage of OPETH's September 30, 2009 performance in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Åkerfeldt recently revealed to Holland's FaceCulture that he is contemplating recording a singer-songwriter acoustic solo album.

"My views [regarding songwriting] have broadened a little bit," Mikael said. "I guess when I discovered Nick Drake, that's when I really got into that whole simplistic type of music that really needs something strong — strong material in order to make it come across with so little."

He continued, "I've always been wanting to do a thing like that. I've got a bunch of lovely acoustic guitars back I wanna use more. Even though OPETH could probably do an album like that, I wanna do it on my own, and in that sense, I wanna record it on my own — in my house, basically. I think I can do it well. I think I can do a good album like that.

"I'd like to maybe simplify it even more [than the OPETH acoustic stuff], and have it just chords playing, and maybe some finger-picking stuff, so I could be able to perform it if I would wanna do that. So I don't want it to be lots of tracks, like overdubbing guitars with lots of melodies; I want it to be fairly simplistic so if I wanted to, I could play it live on my own... on a stool. [laughs]"

For now, the plans only exist in Åkerfeldt's head. No songs have been written or recorded yet, but Mikael is certain the singer/songwriter solo album will see the light of day. "I'm getting ready to write because every time I sit down and play, I come up with something that I like," he said.

OPETH is currently taking part in the European installment of DREAM THEATER's Progressive Nation tour alongside UNEXPECT and BIGELF.

Interview:



Live in Bydgoszcz, Poland (September 30, 2009):

AMARANTHE (formerly AVALANCHE), the new project featuring Olof Mörck (NIGHTRAGE, DRAGONLAND), Jake E (ex-DREAM EVIL, DREAMLAND), Andy Solveström (WITHIN Y, EVILDOER, CIPHER SYSTEM) and Morten Lowe Sorensen (THE ARCANE ORDER, SUBMISSION), has posted a new song, entitled "Hunger", on the band's MySpace page. Unlike the previously released music, this track is professional album quality and was mixed at Studio Fredman in Västra Frölunda, Sweden.

AMARANTHE is scheduled to release a digital single from the same session on October 12.

Commented Mörck: "It has been quite some time since you heard any new music from AMARANTHE, but we not been inactive during this time, quite the opposite! A full album has been written during the last months, and we are now in talks with some very significant people from the music business, but I cannot say more at this point. AMARANTHE also did our live debut yesterday in our hometown of Gothenburg, and to celebrate this first step onto the stage, we have now uploaded a new track, entitled 'Hunger', along with a brand new MySpace page! The song was mixed in Studio Fredman by the up-and-coming and very awesome Andy Hayball, who you'll probably be hearing more about soon! Also, don't miss our digital single to be released on October 12, or all your iPods, Zunes and whatnot!"

IN FLAMES bassist Peter Iwers and EVERGREY keyboardist Rickard Zander are among the guest musicians who will appear on the upcoming AVALANCHE CD.

Mörck previously stated about the band: "AMARANTHE has for long been an idea between me and Jake E to break out of the mold of our past projects and create something new and fresh entirely and to give room for ideas not appropriate for the other acts and projects we are part of. The result is an onslaught of soaring melodies, heavy riffing and guttural screams from the netherworld, a result of having three singers in the band; Jake E on clean vocals, cabaret virtuoso Elize on female vocals and Andy on screams. The result is a quite distinct sound, especially combined with the music itself that draws upon influences from a varied spectrum of genres, all to create a thrilling experience for the listener. Another defining feature of AMARANTHE is the idea of a collective — everyone from superstars of the industry to just generally talented people will lend their unique skills to AMARANTHE on the coming album. This, however, won't stop AMARANTHE from being a tour de force in live shows and tours, since the core of this metal machinery is based primarily on the regular members. This project has just taken off, but we're quite excited to show you what we have so far, and a lot more will come in a very near future."

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/amaranthemetal.

Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, SEPULTURA) was a featured guest on the September 19, 2009 edition of "The Classic Metal Show". The chat is now available for streaming using the audio player below.

When asked if he thinks SEPULTURA's reputation is being tarnished by the band's current lineup — which doesn't include Max or his brother, Igor (drums) — Max said, "Well, it's not really up to me to say that. I think I left it up to the fans to decide, and I think they are showing their feelings, because I don't think SEPULTURA is doing all that good these days. There's no original members [left], and it's just kind of hard to believe in a band like that, because everybody that was in it originally has left. But what can I say?! I'm pleased with what I'm doing. Playing with Igor [in CAVALERA CONSPIRACY] is great, and the way SOULFLY is coming together is great, so I just keep doing my thing."

"The Classic Metal Show" can be heard every Saturday night between 9:00 p.m. EST and 3:00 a.m. EST at www.cmsradio.net.

In a recent interview with Fangoria.com, Max was asked baout the songwriting process for the next SOULFLY album. "[It's coming along] little by little. Right now we're just getting some of the ideas together with some of the songs I composed while on tour over the past two years. We've got bits and pieces, lot's of riffs and things, but we'll begin seriously working on it at the beginning of November when we get off the road. We'll get right into the studio and start recording . . . Recording will be November and December, so [the release] should be the beginning of next year. That's about how long it'll take to get the mixing, mastering, and artwork done. We're recording in California this time, and it will be mixed in England. Once all the parts are in place we'll set a release date. It's still a little bit of time."

Regarding whether there will be a second CAVALERA CONSPIRACY album, Max said, "I don't have any plans right now, but maybe later on. I did some shows with that and they were awesome. We did some shows in Europe and Japan with really great crowd reaction. They were really into the album and they know it a lot more now. The way the CAVALERA operates is that we do some shows here and there — not often but for special occasions. We like to keep it like that, and it's cool to get together with Igor [CAVALERA CONSPIRACY/ex-SEPULTURA drummer] for awhile and then get right back to SOULFLY."

Max Cavalera interview from September 19, 2009 edition of "The Classic Metal Show" (click below to launch audio):

Dave Rude, TESLA guitarist and frontman of the DAVE RUDE BAND, will be interviewed on the FatCat Radio Network's "The Big Show" hosted by One Angry Swede on Wednesday October 7 between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. CST. The chat is expected to begin around 9:30 p.m. Dave discusses a number of topics at length in this wide-ranging interview, including the new DAVE RUDE BAND CD, "Carry Me Home", the history of the band, what you can expect from the group's live show, and how he juggles the responsibilities of his own band while continuing to tour and record with TESLA.

For more information, visit www.fatcatradio.com.

"Breakin' Free", the latest video from TESLA, can be viewed below. The song comes off the California rockers' latest album, "Forever More", which debuted at position No. 33 on The Billboard 200 chart in its first week of release. The CD was released on October 7, 2008 on Tesla Electric Company Recordings. The European version of the album, which was made available on November 7 via Frontiers Records, contains two bonus tracks not found on the American version.

For "Forever More", TESLA reunited with producer Terry Thomas, who was behind the boards for the band's 1994 gold-certified "Bust A Nut" album, and engineered by Michael Rosen who worked with TESLA on "Into The Now".

TESLA guitarist Frank Hannon recently told Noisecreep that the band is planning a pair of CDs to celebrate live performances throughout Europe last summer and the U.S. this fall. "We're doing two live albums," he said. "The first one is strictly for Europe; it may be available as an import [to America]. We are going to do a second one. It's going to be for America next year."

Joe Matera of Ultimate-Guitar.com recently conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: This "American Soldier" tour the band is undertaking is a multi-media show and you're concentrating solely on three albums: "Rage for Order", "Empire", and "American Soldier"?

Michael Wilton: Yeah, we took a poll from our website to find out what fans wanted to hear. And because they've been bombarded with "Operation: Mindcrime", they wanted to go back a little bit further to the "Rage For Order" album and hear that again live. And because "Empire" is our biggest-selling record, everybody wanted to hear that too. And because we wanted to promote the new record as well, we kind of sandwiched that and the other two albums in together and it has worked out really well.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You're also currently writing a solo album while on the road?

Michael Wilton: Yes, I have been. I had a few days home before heading out on this leg of the tour and I got about three or four tunes down. I'm going to get a vocalist to come in when I get back home and some other musicians. As soon as we finish up this Australian tour, I'm going back home to continue working on the tracks. I've also got my other band SOULBENDER working on stuff and I'm also working with "Ripper" Owens [YNGWIE MALMSTEEN/ex-JUDAS PRIEST singer]. So I've got a lot of projects going on, man.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: When it comes to touring today, how does it compare to touring say twenty years ago?

Michael Wilton: It is very different touring today than it was twenty years ago as today we do gigs back to back, one after another. But twenty years ago it was a little more relaxed, where we'd do two shows and have a day off, do three shows and have a day off and so there were lots of days off. Now, it is like "bang, bang, bang." It is non-stop. Touring is very much so a discipline and you have to be committed to touring as it is all about each guy not letting each other guy down. It is all about, "Hey, we're here because of the music and we're playing as a band." And that is what keeps you driving otherwise the traveling can get kind of tedious.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: What else would you like to achieve musically in your career?

Michael Wilton: I want to do a couple of solo records for sure, and I want to stretch out on some other recordings with other people. I've already done one with Tim "Ripper" Owens and I just did another one with Ronny Munroe from METAL CHURCH, where I played a couple solos on his album. And I'm getting a number of other people interested too so that is what I want. I want to collaborate, a little bit more. And of course I want to keep banging them out with QUEENSRŸCHE.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Looking back to when the band first started, did you ever expect the band to still have its longevity as it has today?

Michael Wilton: It does amaze me. But we are just a process that keeps evolving. But when I take a step back and think about it, it is pretty amazing. But for me it is all about, "Come on, man, let's get to work and let's give the people what they want."

Read the entire interview from Ultimate-Guitar.com.

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser was a recent guest on the "Mini TV" show in Brazil. Video of his appearance can be viewed below.

"Mini TV" is described as a combination of a test drive and a talk show in which Brazilian personalities and celebrities from the worlds of design, business, fashion, food and music take a mini cooper out for a spin on the streets of São Paulo, Brazil while being interviewed by Vivianne Ventura (the winner of the first edition of the Brazilian version of the TV program "The Apprentice").

Kisser's solo debut, "Hubris I & II", was released on June 15 via Holland's Mascot Records. A two-disc set, the self-produced effort was recorded in part at A Voz do Brasil studio in São Paulo, Brazil.

Kisser previously stated about the album, "I'm very pleased with the result and I'm excited to hear it all done. It was a long process, a learning process and a great experience. It's a musical journey through the influences I had for last 15 years of my life and at the same time it's very different from everything I did so far."

"Hubris" comes from Greek word "hybris," which means "excessive pride, wanton violence."

A new audio interview with LAMB OF GOD drummer Chris Adler, conducted on September 19, 2009 by "Démentièllement Vôtre" on Québec City's CKRL 89.1 FM, has been posted online at this location. It can also be streamed using the audio player below.

"Démentièllement Vôtre" is a metal radio show on the oldest independant Francophone radio station in North America. The program has been airing since 2003 and can be heard every Friday night from midnight to 6:00 a.m.

In other news, LAMB OF GOD has scheduled two meet-and-greets during October/November — on October 13 in Roseville, Minnesota and on November 14 in New York City. More information is available on the poster below.

GOD FORBID guitarist Doc Coyle is filling in for LAMB OF GOD's Mark Morton on the Richmond, Virginia metal band's current U.S. tour with METALLICA (as well as LOG's headlining "off" dates), which kicked off on September 14 in Nashville and will conclude on November 15 in New York City.

LAMB OF GOD's new album, "Wrath", has sold more than 170,000 copies in the United States since its February 24 release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"Wrath" was produced by Josh Wilbur and was recorded in studios in New York, Virginia, and New Hampshire.

The "Wrath" album was released in four configurations: an LP, a CD, a deluxe-edition CD with bonus disc — which contains isolated recording parts — as well as a super-deluxe version featuring a limited-edition box containing an LP, deluxe-edition CD and USB drive containing two exclusive bonus tracks.

Chris Adler interviewed on "Démentièllement Vôtre" (click on player below to launch audio):

"The God Of All Mistakes", the new video from Brazilian extreme metallers EMINENCE, can be viewed below.

The new version of the song "The God Of All Mistakes", featuring the band's latest addition, vocalist Bruno Paraguay (DILÚVIO), is available for free download as an MP3 audio file at this location.

Paraguay joined EMINENCE in January 2009 as the replacement for Wallace Parreiras, who was in the group for five years.

EMINENCE's latest album, "The God of all Mistakes", was released in March 2008 via Locomotive Records. The CD was recorded at Maquina Studios with producer by Tue Madsen (ROB HALFORD, MNEMIC, THE HAUNTED). The mixing sessions took place at the Antfarm studio in Århus, Denmark.

KISS has posted the third in a series of video clips documenting the recording process for the band's new studio album, "Sonic Boom". Watch it below.

"Sonic Boom" will be released in Europe on October 5 via Loud & Proud/Roadrunner Records. The CD will be made available in the U.S. and Canada on October 6 exclusively via Wal-Mart, Walmart.com and Sam's Club retail locations.

"Sonic Boom", produced by guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley in Los Angeles, is the centerpiece of a three-disc set that also features a completely re-recorded greatest hits CD (previously available in Japan) as well as a live DVD shot in Argentina during the band's recent, record-breaking KISS Alive 35 South American tour. The CD set will retail for $12, with pre-orders starting in September on Walmart.com.

Wal-Mart, one of America's largest music retailers, is finalizing its exciting plans now for its in-store and online destinations for KISS fans surrounding the launch of the new album and tour, and will host various KISS products in addition to their music in its stores this fall. More details on Wal-Mart KISS activity, announcements regarding album pre-sales, sweepstakes and KISS appearances will be shared shortly.

The "Sonic Boom" cover art was created by Michael Doret, who also designed the band's classic "Rock And Roll Over" album cover.

KISS filmed footage for the "Modern Day Delilah" video during the band's private warm-up show at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan on September 24. Over 1,500 lucky fans attended the event, where the group also previewed its new stage and taped two songs for an upcoming episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

KISS' appearance on ABC-TV's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will be broadcast on the Wednesday, October 7 episode (which will actually air the morning of Thursday, October 8).

On October 1 at the 2009 Austin City Limits music festival, Antiquiet conducted an interview with Josh Homme (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE) about THEM CROOKED VULTURES, his collaboration with Dave Grohl (FOO FIGHTERS) and John Paul Jones (LED ZEPPELIN). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Antiquiet: What's going on with the [THEM CROOKED VULTURES debut] album?

Josh Homme: Well, we just finished figuring out what songs we're going to put on it, which took a little bit of time. We couldn't decide what [we wanted] to do. Do you make a triple album? An EP? How many songs is too much?

I tend to think that even if you've got a bunch of good songs, maybe you should err on the side of brevity, and keep it tight. But we really enjoy lots of songs, so we couldn't decide.

Antiquiet: And they're long songs…

Josh Homme: Some are, yeah. We call them battleships when they're big. There's about four battleships. And like, do you put 'em all on? I dunno, it's a tough call.

Antiquiet: Any name for it yet?

Josh Homme: It's a self-titled.

Antiquiet: How about a release?

Josh Homme: We've been doing a lot of stuff real kind of secretive, and we actually made a pact to not know when it's coming out, the band guys. I'm betting… Well it's going to be before the end of the year… We kind of have a little running bet on what the date is. And I intend to win that bet, because I'm going to cheat.

Antiquiet: Any idea as far as an agreement on a label, or how that's all going to work out distribution-wise?

Josh Homme: Yeah… It's going to come out on Interscope in the States, and Sony/BMG internationally.

Antiquiet: How do you feel about that? You've been pretty outspoken in the past about not feeling so hot about Interscope anymore…

Josh Homme: Well, you know… If it was up to me, I'd just get a real big hot air balloon, and put 'em all in the basket of that, and just (miming) pull the cord and let it drop over places, you know? But, you know, it's not up to me always.

Read the entire interview from Antiquiet. The seven-minute chat can also be viewed below.

In a changing world, SHADOWS FALL frontman Brian Fair knows you have to be proactive about making change work for you. In the band's second appearance on the "White Noise Metal" video podcast, Fair tells host "That BS Dude, Brian Shields" SHADOWS FALL is embracing that change from the way the band members write music to the way they get their creative product out to their unique fan base.

Fair says taking responsibility for making things change is the theme of the first single off the new album "Retribution", called "Still I Rise". "Lyrically, it's a song about channeling inner strength and rejecting the idea that a lot of people will project perfection on something they think is unattainable," he says. "The first line, 'Stop searching the sky for answers and look within', instead of always putting things in the hands of a god or a higher power, realizing the power's within you and it's also your responsibility.

"If you want things to change, you can't just pray for change, you have to create change. It's not a knock on anyone's spiritual beliefs or religion but it's about not using that as an excuse or as an escape route but using it to inspire you.

"That's a problem I've always had with a dogmatic approach to religion. If you just want to read the rules and think at the end of the day I'll be fine because I did everything I was supposed to but if you don't do anything to help the world, that's kind of missing the point. It's also to know that when things seem the bleakest, to know you have the power inside you to make a change."

Regarding the musical direction of the band's new album, Fair says, "It's definitely a darker, more aggressive record than the last one. There's still a lot of melody, it's always a big part of our sound. But this record is a little more up-tempo, more thrash beats. I think of a lot of it is the way we wrote. We wrote a lot of stuff all together in the practice space, full volume, at once as opposed to trading CDs. I think that playing it altogether loud kicked it up a notch in intensity. A lot of the transitions were worked out on the spot as we jammed so you got a lot of the technical side of it there too. We're really excited. We think it's the perfect balance of all of our influences — from old-style classic metal, the PRIEST and the MAIDEN influences that we'll always have, through the melodic death metal like AT THE GATES, to everything we've ever done."

Fair tells "White Noise Metal" the decision to write together in the practice space made the songs on "Retribution" instantly ready for live performances. On the podcast, he talks in detail about "Still I Rise" and "Public Execution" which he describes as the most brutal tune on the release.

"We've never had a curse on a record before," he says. " So we thought, 'Let's just chant 'fuck.'' It just fit the energy of the song. It's sort of a song about anger and energy but it's unfocused. Just revolution for the sake of it but you don't really know what you're railing against. That kind of happens sometimes in aggressive music, especially in classic thrash where you have some lyrics that inspired you do something they just didn't tell you what. It's a tongue-in-cheek approach to that but at the same time using the same ways they get you to sing along. What better sing along to have than just 'Fuck it All.' I think it's also an attitude that a lot of people can embrace in this day and age when everything's just such a mess, you just throw your hands up in the air."

Fair and SHADOWS FALL certainly aren't throwing their hands up in the air when it comes to the changing face of the music industry. After that one record with Atlantic, the SHADS have decided to create their own record label and maintain total control over the relationship they have with their fans.

"Major labels are kind of in a panic about record sales and doing things the way they used to," Fair tells "White Noise Metal". "So we decided to be proactive about it. Let's change the business model. We still use a major label, Warner Music, as a distributor so they can get us into retail and open those doors we wouldn't be able to do on our own. They hire Ferret Music out of that to do the everyday promotions, a DIY thinking label that understands a band like us from the ground up. We make the final decision about everything. We know the bottom line is no longer about helping the record label, it's about helping us because we're the bottom line."

Fair says it's silly to stay on a sinking ship just because that's the way the industry has always worked.

"It's about taking the power back," he says. "It's about flipping the grid where instead of everyone else getting paid and we get the trickle down royalties in the end, we flipped it so that now it gives you a motivation to work harder. Yes, it is more work running your own label but it's worth it in the end, especially to go from 10-to-12 percent to 70-to-80 percent, big difference."

Fair says SHADOWS FALL knows its audience better than someone sitting in a record company office. While touring in support of "Retribution", the singer is talking daily with fans on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. The band also has set up its own social networking site using the Ning platform.

"On this tour, I'm going to give a secret password on Twitter with something random," Fair says. "So if you come to the merch table and say this, you're going to get free something. If we have guest list spots, I'm going to give them away on Twitter. We're going to use it as a way to talk to people. It may be something as simple as if you meet me at 7:00 tomorrow, I'll buy you a shot of Jägermeister if you have a valid ID. It's cool. All of the tools are out there because it's getting tough to survive as a band in the traditional ways if you don't find a way to make it work."

So what will you find in Brian Fair's mp3 player these days? In "White Noise Metal"'s famous segment called "Shit We Like", the SHADOWS FALL frontman says he's been listening to a lot of instrumental music lately. "One band is RUSSIAN CIRCLES," he says. " I really love their record 'Station'. It will start really minimalistic with these guitar riffs and it will build to these huge riffs. It's sick. Maybe I listen to a lot of instrumental music because I'm a singer so I'm sick of people yelling at me. That's one band people should definitely check out."

"White Noise Metal" with "That BS Dude Brian Shields" features interviews and profiles with some of the top names in the genre. Previous episodes have spotlighted bands ranging from GOJIRA to BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME to CORROSION OF CONFORMITY.

For more information, visit www.whitenoisemetal.com.

According to Kotaku.com, Harmonix's October 20 QUEEN track pack for Rock Band manages to collect 10 of the very best songs from the Freddie Mercury-fronted group. The full list is as follows:

* Another One Bites the Dust
* Crazy Little Thing Called Love
* One Vision
* Fat Bottomed Girls
* I Want It All
* I Want to Break Free
* Killer Queen
* Somebody to Love
* Tie Your Mother Down
* Under Pressure

NewTek recently conducted an interview with William Vaughan, animator director at Splashlight (and former LightWave 3D evangelist) about his recent work on the KISS M&Ms campaign:

NewTek: Who was this image created for?

William Vaughan: The illustration was created for BBDO Worldwide's Inner M&M campaign, which runs in magazines worldwide. In the past, Splashlight created M&M characters of sportscasters Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson for a Super Bowl-themed advertisement. They also created M&M characters of country music stars Brooks and Dunn.

NewTek: How long did it take to create the artwork?

William Vaughan: It took about a week to model the characters and their props, and another week for lighting and surfacing. The details in the boots and guitars took the longest to model, as it was important to capture every detail. As usual, we used subdivision modeling to keep the polygon count as low as possible, both for rendering speed and maximum flexibility. We used another month for revisions involving both LightWave and Photoshop.

NewTek: How long was the approval process?

William Vaughan: There were probably two dozen rounds of revisions, which is fairly common for assignments like this one. We worked from a sketch provided by the agency that showed each character's general pose and position, but many elements changed along the way. There were differing opinions about whether a vertical or horizontal orientation would work best, so we created both. There was uncertainty about which band members should be represented, as two of the original band members had been replaced over the years. After several rounds of modifications, there was the last-minute addition of a stage, to make the image more vertical. The art directors at BBDO scrutinized every detail, magnified well beyond the intended print size before the image was shown to the band for final approval.

Read the entire interview from NewTek.

U.K. doom metal legends MY DYING BRIDE will release their new EP, "Bring Me Victory", on October 26 via Peaceville Records. The CD was recorded at Futureworks studio in Manchester.

The track listing is as follows:

01. Bring Me Victory
02. Scarborough Fair
03. Failure (THE SWANS cover)
04. Vast Choirs (live at Graspop Metal Meeting 2008)

Commented the band: "'Scarborough Fair' is a traditional English folk song without specific origin but was made popular by SIMON & GARFUNKEL in 1966. MY DYING BRIDE's version will feature two new introductory verses written by Aaron [Stainthorpe, vocals] and will naturally feature the bands usual epic style with violins and crushing guitars.

"'Failure' was originally written by SWANS and has been a favorite within the MY DYING BRIDE camp for many years; it was only a matter of time before the band made their own version of this especially miserable number."

A video for "Bring Me Victory" was recently filmed and is expected to make its online debut later in the month.

A couple of video stills can be viewed below.

MY DYING BRIDE recently parted ways with violinist/keyboardist Katie Stone and replaced her with Shaun Macgowan.

The band's latest full-length album, "For Lies I Sire", was released on March 23 via Peaceville Records. The follow-up to 2006's "A Line of Deathless Kings" was recorded with longtime producer Mags.

Udo Dirkschneider (U.D.O., ACCEPT) and '80s hard rock queen Lita Ford will be the featured guests on tonight's (Saturday October 3) edition of the "Turn It Up" radio show from 6:00 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST on WSCA 106.1 FM in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

To stream the show live, click here.

"Turn It Up" is a two-hour radio show that focuses on new and classic hard rock and heavy metal.

For more information, go to this location.

U.D.O.'s new album, "Dominator", entered the official chart in the group's home country at position No. 27. This marks the highest German chart entry in U.D.O.'s history. A limited-edition single, "Infected", preceded the full-length CD on June 26. The single was released as a limited edition of 2,222 pieces worldwide and included the title track, two non-album cuts, a remix and a live song. On the same day U.D.O. played at the Bang Your Head!!! festival in Balingen, Germany as a co-headliner.

U.D.O.'s previous studio album, "Mastercutor", entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 39.

In an "innovative" music marketing move, Ford has released a single from "Wicked Wonderland", her first album in 15 years, on Stockroom.com, the world's leading fetish site. It is believed to be the first time a relatively high-profile music release has been launched through a web site catering to the alternative fetish lifestyle.

"Wicked Wonderland"'s erotic song "Bed", which explores themes of bondage, kink and power exchange in a strong and highly artistic style, will be available exclusively on Stockroom.com prior to the album's release.

APOCALYPTICA's Perttu Kivilaakso joined Swedish Viking metallers AMON AMARTH on stage last night (Friday, October 2) at the Tavastia club in Helsinki, Finland to perform the song "Embrace Of The Endless Ocean".

Fan-filmed video footage of this unique collaboration can be viewed below.

The deluxe reissue of AMON AMARTH's "The Crusher" saw the light of day on September 1 in Europe via Metal Blade Records (August 29 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria).

"The Crusher" was made available as a double-popup-digipak featuring two discs. Disc one features the entire "The Crusher" album remastered by Jens Bogren plus the bonus track "The Eyes Of Horror", which is a cover version of a song by POSSESSED. Disc two features the live recording of the show AMON AMARTH played on December 30, 2008 in Bochum, Germany where they performed "The Crusher" album in its entirety. The order of songs is the same as on disc one (excluding "The Eyes Of Horror").

"The Crusher" reissue was made available as an eight-sided double-digipak with an individual pop-up. All four pop-ups attached to each other show a special three-dimensional image. The reissue also features liner notes by AMON AMARTH.

DEAD BY SUNRISE, the new band fronted by LINKIN PARK's Chester Bennington, will perform on ABC-TV's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Wednesday, October 21 (which will actually air the morning of Thursday, October 22).

DEAD BY SUNRISE has announced three upcoming live shows to celebrate the release of its debut album, "Out of Ashes", due from Warner Bros. Records on October 13.

The band, which is Bennington on vocals, guitarists Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh (from ORGY/JULIEN-K), bassist Brandon Belsky, drummer Elias Anda (also from JULIEN-K), and keyboardist Anthony Valcic, will perform at Wasted Space in the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas on October 1, at The Gramercy Theatre in New York City on October 14, and at the Roxy in Los Angeles on October 19.

Fans attending these very special shows will be treated to songs from "Out of Ashes", which was produced by Howard Benson (MOTÖRHEAD, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE). The album's first single, "Crawl Back In", continues its assault on rock radio, after being the most-added track for four consecutive weeks in September.

As previously announced, DEAD BY SUNRISE will perform also at MTV's first annual "Ulalume" Halloween festival on October 23, 2009, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, alongside PARAMORE, AFI, and KID CUDI. Their performance will air during a Halloween-themed week on MTV, MTV.com, mtvU, and mtvU.com.

Jane Stevenson of the Sun Media reports: Sure, they wanted to rock and roll all night, but KISS short-circuited just one song into their Air Canada Centre [in Toronto, Ontario, Canada] show Friday night.

After an explosive fire display, the veteran rockers were about half way through their opening song, "King Of The Night Time World", when they appeared to lose power causing the audience to boo loudly.

Without an active microphone, singer-guitarist Paul Stanley held up his hands and mouthed that the group, rounded out by bassist Gene Simmons, drummer Eric Singer and lead guitarist Tommy Thayer, would be back "in about five to ten minutes" and they walked off stage.

Shortly thereafter, and with little in the way of further reaction from the KISS army, the quartet returned and Stanley explained what was going on: "There is a problem with the electricity and the power at the ACC, but we have fixed it and we are here to kick your ass," he said.

After checking their gear, the group then launched into "Deuce" and the show, as they say, went on for another two-and-a-half hours.

"It started to look like we might have to reschedule," said Stanley, 57, afterwards, prompting more boos. "Last night (on Thursday), Montreal said they'd kick your ass. Tonight, Toronto, you have to prove them wrong."

Read the entire report from Sun Media.

Fan-filmed video footage of the moment after KISS' power went out at the Toronto concert can be viewed below.

Raleigh, North Carolina-based progressive metalcore quintet BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME will play a record-release show for its new album, "The Great Misdirect", this Halloween at the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina. The band will perform the entire new CD "plus some oldies" at the show, which will feature additional appearances by GLASS CASKET featuring BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME drummer Blake Richardson and guitarist Dustie Waring), BRAVEYOUNG and TORCHRUNNER (featuring BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME's merch/light guy Chuck Johnson).

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME will embark on a U.S. tour in November with support from VEIL OF MAYA and ANIMALS AS LEADERS. A list of tour dates can be found at this location.

"The Great Misdirect" is scheduled for release on October 27 via Victory Records. A song from the CD, "Obfuscation", is available for streaming in the YouTube clip below. The nine-minute-and-fifteen-second track is a testament to the technically otherworldly original and proficient musicianship of BTBAM.

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME vocalist Tommy Rogers recently told Noisecreep about the group's Jamie King-produced follow-up to 2007's "Colors", "It's definitely a step forward for us, I think. I don't know ... when we write records, we never want to repeat ourselves, and we definitely have done that. So, I was worried when we started writing this record that we were just going to end up with something that sounds like 'Colors', and that's definitely not the case."

According to Rogers, "The Great Misdirect" is "more dynamic than we've ever been." The band, he said, tried "different things" on this record, resulting in a rather equal mix of "mellow stuff and more intense stuff. It's definitely BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME," Rogers added. "That's the coolest thing about our records. No matter what we do, it still sounds like us."

He continued, "It's a little over an hour of material, and it's definitely a lot of music. The thing with us is — yeah, we do have long songs, but we just try to never have a lot of filler. Some bands will have long songs, but half of the song will be a lot of filler. On 'Swim to the Moon' [the last track on the disc, which clocks in at over 18 minutes], there's no downtime. We try to pack everything with music, because we like to give people their money's worth."