Hailing from the Swiss city of Basel, Zeal & Ardor are an Alternative Metal act that have always well and truly had a sound of their own. Initially, a one-man studio project from the extraordinary musical architect Manuel Gagneux, Zeal & Ardor dropped into our speakers with thei debut album Devil Is Fine in 2016. Providing a highly experimental blend of Black Metal and Delta Blues, before exploring the sound further two years later with record number two – Stranger Fruit. Continue reading
Tag Archives: The Black Keys
ALBUM REVIEW: Marcus King – Mood Swings
Having teamed up with Black Keys frontman Dan Auberbach for the last two albums, on his new one Mood Swings (American Recordings/Republic Records/Snakefarm Records) Marcus King is helped out by producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin. Gone is the seventies, bluesy Rock N’ Roll of the previous record Young Blood, in its place is R&B, Soul, Jazz, Pop and Classic Rock influences with King’s smokey, bluesman vocals taking centre stage. Continue reading
Paramore Drops Out of ALT 98.7 FM’s ALTer Ego Fest, Replaced By Fall Out Boy
According to a report from The Orange County Register, Paramore has canceled their appearance “Due to unforeseen circumstances” at the ALT 98.7 FM’s ALTer Ego Fest, which is taking place at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Saturday, Jan. 13th. The station announced that Fall Out Boy will take their place. The ALTer Ego fest will still include sets from The 1975, The Black Keys, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Bush, Sum 41, Yellowcard, Lovelytheband, and The Last Dinner Party. The show is officially sold out, but tickets are still available from resellers. Read the station’s post about the cancelation by Paramore, who recently wiped their socials and deleted their website, leading to speculation by fans about the future of the band.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: You Me At Six – Truth Decay
You Me At Six is now encroaching upon their twentieth year of being a band. With seven albums under their belt to show for their work, what else does the band have left to showcase to the world? In the past, the band has shown that they are willing to stray into other genres. The previous album, Night People ‘was a foray into the world of indie-rock, taking inspiration from their peers in the likes of Royal Blood and The Black Keys. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Marcus King – Young Blood
A rich and rewarding exercise in traditional blues, Young Blood’s (American / Republic / Snakefarm) vital ingredients also include southern rock, soul and even country. As produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, this is one to wallow and luxuriate in – but don’t get too comfortable as angst and agony are never far away in the songs of a relative kid who seems to have lived something of a life already.Continue reading
K.Flay – Every Where Is Some Where
Cards on the table, pop isn’t my world, but something about the second K.Flay album Every Where Is Some Where (Night Street / Interscope) piqued the interest. It’s not your standard Ghost Cult fare by any stretch, but we’re up for chucking things your way from time to time that sit outside the realms we normally cover, cos, at the end of the day, good music is good music. And while K.Flay wouldn’t be picked up by my usual radar, I’m not disappointed it did hit my desk.Continue reading
The Picturebooks – Home Is A Heartache
Gütersloh may be a long way from the Louisiana swamps, but German two-piece The Picturebooks sound like they were born and raised on nothing but the Blues along the Mississippi. The band’s sophomore release and début for Another Century, Home Is A Heartache, is raw Blues Rock stripped to the bare essentials; a fuzzy guitar, stomping drums, and soulful vocals.Continue reading
Halestorm, Tenacious D, Beartooth, etc Added To Upcoming Guitar Hero Live
More artists have come up as part of the forthcoming Guitar Hero Live video game, out this fall.
Halestorm – “Love Bites (So Do I)”
Tenacious D – “Tribute”
Beartooth – “I Have A Problem”
Pearl Jam – “Mind Your Manners”
Rise Against – “Tragedy + Time”
Soundgarden – “Been Away Too Long”
Anthrax – “Got The Time”
Architects – “Gravedigger”
Chevelle – “The Clincher”
A Day To Remember – “Right Back At It Again”
Songs already announced for the game include:
Deftones – “Diamond Eyes”
Marilyn Manson – “Disposable Teens”
The Black Keys – “Gold on the Ceiling”
Blitz Kids – “Sometimes”
Killswitch Engage – “In Due Time”
Mastodon – “High Road”
Bring Me The Horizon – “Shadow Moses”
Of Mice & Men – “Bones Exposed”
Trivium – “Strife”
System of a Down – “Chop Suey!”
Black Veil Brides – “In The End”
Rage Against the Machine – “Guerrilla Radio”
Judas Priest – “Breaking the Law”
Pantera – “Cowboys From Hell”
Royal Blood – “Little Monster”
Vista Chino – “Sweet Remain”
Marmozets – “Move Shake Hide”
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Higher Ground”
The Pretty Reckless – “Going to Hell”
Alter Bridge – “Cry of Achilles”
Ed Sheeran – “Sing”
Fall Out Boy – “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
Gary Clark, Jr. – “Don’t Owe You a Thang”
Green Day – “Nuclear Family”
The Killers – “When You Were Young”
The Lumineers – “Ho Hey”
My Chemical Romance – “Na Na Na”
Pierce the Veil – “King for a Day” (feat. Kellin Quinn)
The Rolling Stones – “Paint it Black”
Skrillex – “Bangarang”
The War on Drugs – “Under the Pressure”
Sleigh Bells – “Bitter Rivals”
Alt-J – “Left Hand Free”
Broken Bells – “Leave It Alone”
Guitar Hero Relaunching This Fall
The Guitar Hero video game franchise is relaunching its line this fall with a new installment called Guitar Hero Live, where it has been reworked to now feature a live action experience and focuses solely on guitars this time around. A new guitar peripheral has been announced to go along with the game and features two rows of three buttons to offer a different experience that will allow for basic chord patterns on higher difficulties.
Artists confirmed to be part of the game this time around include:
The Black Keys
Fall Out Boy
My Chemical Romance
Gary Clark, Jr.
Green Day
Ed Sheeran
The War on Drugs
The Killers
Skrillex
The Rolling Stones
The Lumineers
Carrie Underwood
Pierce The Veil
Blitz Kids
Volbeat Signs With Q Prime Management For The Americas
Volbeat have signed a management deal with the legendary Q Prime agency (Metallica, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, The Black Keys, Snow Patrol, Baroness) for the North America. Their latest Grammy nominated album Outlaw Gentleman and Shady Ladies (Universal) has been certified Platinum in three countries and Gold in several others. The band is hitting the road this spring for a string of dates with Anthrax and Crobot. With offices in New York, London, and Nashville Q Prime , founded by Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, is perhaps best known as the agency that helped lead Metallica to prominence from the underground to one of the biggest, most commercially successful bands in music history.
Press Notes:
Q Prime, the New York based music management firm founded and run by Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, today announced the North American management signing of the Grammy nominated Danish metal band Volbeat.
“Anytime you see a band (in Lubbock, Texas no less) who can play Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and their own “Hangman’s Body Count” in the same set is worth managing,” said Peter Mensch. “We are looking forward to plunging into wildly imaginative world of Volbeat.”
“We are truly excited to join forces with Qprime as our management team for the Americas. We’re honored to be amongst such great bands as Muse and Metallica and to be able to work with such a great organization,” said Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen. “We can’t wait to be back on North American soil to see our American and Canadian fans in April.”
Since forming in Copenhagen in 2000, Volbeat has released five studio albums and two live offerings. Volbeat is Michael Poulsen (vocals/guitar), Anders Kjølholm (bass) and Jon Larsen (drums). In 2013, former Anthrax/The Damned Things guitarist Rob Caggiano, who produced their current album, Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies, with longtime Volbeat co-producer Jacob Hansen, joined the band as a full time member.
Volbeat’s current release Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies has sold more than 300,000 copies in the U.S., alongside hundreds of thousands of digital singles. The title has been certified platinum in their home country of Denmark, alongside Germany and Austria, with gold sales in Finland and Sweden. The album has also been certified gold in Canada. This past year, the Danish quartet received their first GRAMMY nomination in the “Best Metal Performance” category for “Room 24” (Volbeat Featuring King Diamond), and won Germany’s Echo Award for “Best International Alternative Act.” Recently, “A Warrior’s Call” from Beyond Heaven / Above Hell was certified gold in the U.S. for sales of 500,000 units by the RIAA.