Photo by Alex Morgan
Revocation will commemorate their 20th anniversary with a special month-long North American headlining trek this Fall! The 20 Years Of Torment tour runs from September 10th through October 10th and will find the band performing tracks from across their entire catalog. Support will be provided by Defeated Sanity, Fuming Mouth, and Weeping. The journey follows the band’s European tour this August, which includes festival performances, headlining shows, and more.
So, here we are then. Forty-three years, seventeen studio albums and countless supporting musicians later, and the end is finally nigh for Megadeth. Yes, the band will remain on active duty for an extensive farewell tour, but for now, or until frontman Dave Mustaine changes his mind (an unlikely scenario), then this is indeed it. Recording-wise at least.
On Para Bellum – (Nuclear Blast Records) Testament continues to uphold the legacy of quality decades in the making. Despite not being the household name like the bands of the Big Four, these had chops that rivaled Megadeth’s most shredding line-up. Of the Big Four, Slayer was the only band darker and more aggressive than the classic mid-to-late Eighties period for this band. While this new order marks the debut of Chris Dovas, the former drummer of Seven Spires, whose youthful exuberance gets the job done. Bassist Steve Di Giorgio (Death, Death To All), who goes back to “The Gathering.” Continue reading
In this episode, Keefy welcomes back Dallas-Toller Wade of Narcotic Wasteland, who is currently on tour for the “Annihilation of The Wasteland” dates. Dallas is performing all of “Annihilation of Wicked” by Nile and his other solo mateiral. We chatted about revisiting these tracks, his approach to re-learning material, other guitar nerdout topics, and much more! Continue reading
Work on Mirage began shortly after Plini’s acclaimed second album, Impulse Voices (2020).
Has it been worth the wait?
In October 2020 the world lost a true musical legend when iconic guitar icon Eddie Van Halen passed away, signalling the end of one of the all-time classic American Hard Rock bands. In the aftermath his son Wolfgang Van Halen, himself a touring bass player for his father’s band since the tender age of 15, released his first solo album as Mammoth WVH. The record was in many ways a heartfelt tribute to his father as highlighted on the songs ‘Distance’ and ‘Mr Ed,’ and had been in the works since Wolfgang had started recording in Eddie’s legendary 5150 studio way back in 2015.
Seems like we’re going to have to score another one for the bad guys. And by bad guys, I am referring to some of Thrash Metal’s pioneers who refuse to acknowledge the passage of time and are still melting amp heads like it was 1986.
The brainchild of guitarist/vocalist/everything-ist Andrew Lee, US death metal mob Ripped To Shreds has been tearing up the Californian underground scene since 2016 and shows no sign of slowing down with its third full-length studio release 劇變 (Jubian) (Relapse Records). Originally created as a solo project to increase the visibility of American-born-Chinese in extreme metal, the band now acts as a four-piece and flies that flag with just as much pride as before but to a larger audience.
YouTuber and Metal influencer Nik Nocturnal joined Ghost Cult Keefy for a discussion about his budding music career with Termina, social media, reaction videos, how he got his start in music, shred guitar, cover songs, working with superstars on music on collabs such as Will Ramos and Matthew Kiichi Heafy, listening to your audience, the “Heaviest Riffs” series, and much more! Continue reading
Ibaraki is the new solo project from Trivium’s Matt Heafy, and Rashomon is released through Nuclear Blast, having been over a decade in the making. The name translates as “Wild Trees”, but is also taken from a terrifying Japanese demon of feudal legend, and the concept is a profound affirmation of Heafy’s Japanese-American heritage, incorporating a number of different musical styles. Although the main inspiration clearly sits within the black etal genre, taking influence from the experience of Emperor’s Ihsahn, who co-produced, and whose quirkier ideas from his solo work are peppered throughout the release. Continue reading