After their biggest year ever this year, Hellfest 2023 has booked headliners Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Iron Maiden, and Slipknot! Set to take place June 15-18, 2023 In Clisson, France, the bill also includes Def Leppard, Pantera, Porcupine Tree, Amon Amarth, Alter Bridge And Within Temptation, and more! Headliners for the 2022 edition of Hellfest included Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Judas Priest, Deftones, Ghost, Scorpions, and Korn over two long weekends to make up for the missed pandemic year of 2020.
Press on, intrepid reader, to find out our top albums of 2022, as voted for by the cast, crew and hangers-on of the good ship Ghost Cult. Over 275 albums were nominated (including one stray and errant vote for Stryper… we’ve had words), some people lauded albums as the greatest of all time that no one else noticed, other albums picked up a steady stream of votes across the board without tickling the top of anyone’s charts, but through it all, we’ve been able to compile our team list of the best 75 albums of the year. And there are some absolute corkers, here. 75 of them, to be exact…
As we move into the meaty part of the Ghost Cult albums of the year for 2022 (as chosen solely by the team that dedicate their time to promote, analyse and share the love for the great alternative music that we exist to talk about), we find a mix of old favourites and a sprinkling of new rising and shining stars…Continue reading
Pantera, Disturbed, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, Architects, Behemoth, Kreator, Meshuggah, Gojira, Parkway Drive, Testament, Voivod are among the 103 artists who have been added to the 26th edition of the Graspop Metal Meeting, set to take place June 15-18, 2023 in Dessel, Belgium. Tickets are on sale tomorrow at the links below. Continue reading
Altered Pasts (Pure Noise) is the debut album from the Long Island based five-piece featuring ex-Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Billy Rymer, who also plays guitar on the record alongside his long-time friend Brian Sullivan. Rymer was inspired to pick his guitar back up and jam with Sullivan during his off time with Dillinger, dabbling once again with the instrument he had to put to one side to focus on his drumming during the height of their fame. Continue reading
Since The Dillinger Escape Plan disbanded in 2017, their enigmatic frontman appears to be a man on a mission, allowing his creative juices to flow and taking the opportunity to musically expand and collaborate like never before. Continue reading
The second part of his ongoing conceptual “Leather” trilogy, Frank Huesco, the French darksynth artist better known as Carpenter Brut, follows up 2018’s Leather Teeth with the sequel, Leather Terror (No Quarter Productions/Universal Music/Caroline Records). Conceived during lockdown and featuring absolutely no electric guitars, this latest synth-driven piledriver serves as the soundtrack to an imagined 1987 horror movie about Bret Halford, a nerdy science student who resorts to somewhat dubious scientific methods to win a girl from her high school jock boyfriend. After his experiment turns unrequited love into disfiguration and madness, Halford becomes “Leather Teeth”, the scarred, peroxide blonde frontman of glam rock band Leather Patrol. Picking up the story at this point, Leather Terror uses its twelve tracks to show Halford taking his new serial killer rock star identity and wreaking revenge on those who abused him.
Carpenter Brut has shared a mew single, the first from their upcoming new album Leather Terror, due outt on April 1st, 2022. For the track “Imaginary Fire” the French electronic music great has enlisted Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Black Queen, Killer Be Killed, Jerry Cantrell) on lead vocals. The album also features guest appearances from Ulver, Gunship, Persha, Sylvaine, and Johannes “Jonka” Andersson of Tribulation. Check it out here: Continue reading
Federal Prisoner, the record label – art collective co-founded by Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Killer Be Killed, Jerry Cantrell) and artist Jesse Draxler commemorates the one-year anniversary of the release of his debut solo, Child Soldier: Creator of God, and the soundtrack to his livestream performance, Fuck Content, with the free release of the livestream event. You can watch it below and see our review here. In addition there are new reissues of both the studio album and the livestream’s soundtrack with new limited-edition vinyl variants. The pair of vinyl releases mark the first time the two albums have been available on the format since selling out of their initial pressing. Each album will be a 2LP release, with Child Soldier: Creator of God available on metallic swirl, and Fuck Content on clear vinyl with a new Draxler-designed gatefold layout. Pre-orders for the 500 hand-numbered online variants are available now via the Federal Prisoner webstore with an additional two unique 500-count variants going to both North American and European retail in the Spring. Puciato is currently in the studio wrapping up work on the follow-up to Child Soldier: Creator of God. Titled Mirrorcell, it is expected to see a late Spring 2022 release via Federal Prisoner, with more details to come in January.
