For their sixth full-length studio release, Swedish metallers Portrait journey to the land of the concept album in order to conjure up a tale of sword and sorcery set in the seventeenth century. Their first full-blown conceptual release, The Host (Metal Blade) is not an entirely fictional piece but also inspired partly by historic events, with the band imparting the tale of an unnamed protagonist seeking strength after encountering injustice and hypocrisy.
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Hard-rockers, the Michael J Miller Band (MJM) recently shared a reworking of their latest single, “Live It Up,” now with guest lead vocal by Tim “Ripper” Owens (ex-Judas Priest, KK’s Priest). Band leader, Michael J Miller, previously played in his bands Rapid Tears and Adrenalin, and now continues under his own name. Keep reading below to hear the new rendition of the song and read more from MJM.
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The iconic KK’s Priest – featuring Judas Priest alum and GRAMMY Award musicians K.K. Downing (guitar) and Tim “Ripper” Owens (vocals) – unveiled their blistering sophomore offering, The Sinner Rides Again, in September to rave reviews! Read the Ghost Cult review here. The band continues the onslaught of The Sinner Rides Again with another fantastic, high-quality music video, this time taking us into the future atop the high-energy anthem “Sons Of The Sentinel!” Enjoy the brand new music video and stay tuned for 2024 touring news, coming soon from the band:
Cleopatra Records have put together a double Christmas treat this year, announcing two albums of seasonal covers; AVery Metal Christmas and A Very Metal Christmas II. Both records comprise of yuletide classics reinterpreted by well known rock and metal musicians. Head into the article below to check out the cover of Mariah Carey‘s *All I Want For Christmas Is You”, featuring Tim “Ripper” Owens, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, and Dave Ellefson.
It’s been over a decade since guitarist K.K. Downing parted ways with Midlands Metal pioneers Judas Priest, the highly publicised fallout causing seemingly irreparable damage between the two parties. However, every cloud has its silver lining and one positive thing to have come from this less than amicable parting of the ways is the emergence of KK’s Priest.
SATURDAY
With the weather nothing like the crispy oven-cooked hellfire of last year’s Summerpocalypse, Bloodstock is a much happier place this year, and not even the first downpour of the weekend can dampen the spirits. Especially as today is Corpse-paint Day where everyone is invited to daub themselves in black and white make-up and become angry badgers for the next few hours.
Roadrunner United was a project organized by iconic hard rock record label Roadrunner Records to celebrate its 25th anniversary, culminating in the U.S. Billboard Top 200, UK Albums, and Australian ARIA Albums-charting original The All Star Sessions. Four “team captains” (Slipknot’s Joey Jordison (RIP), Machine Head’s Robb Flynn, Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares, and Trivium’s Matthew K. Heafy) were chosen to lead 57 artists from 45 past and present Roadrunner bands. On December 15, 2005, a concert celebrating the project, album, and anniversary took place at the Nokia Theater in New York City. That star-studded event featured multiple musicians, both past and present, from Roadrunner bands — as well as musicians that did not originally perform on the All-Star Sessions album. Now that album is getting a release in 2023 on multiple formats. Watch the live performance video of “The End (Live)” featuring Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares, and Trivium’s Matthew K. Heafy – right now!
Former Iced Earth members Matt Barlow and Freddie Vidales return with their third full-length album Emperors and Fools. This album sees the duo take the darkness and aggression from their previous album Well of Souls to an upper echelon. Once again drums are done by Van Williams (Nevermore) who played on the previous two LPs. The album ends with the eleven-minute long epic “Monster’s Lament” which features yet another ex-Iced Earth frontman – Tim “Ripper” Owens joining forces with Barlow. Emperors and Fools will be released on January 21 2022 through Rock Of Angels Records. The lyric video for the current single “By My Blade” can be seen here:
Contentious or lazy pigeon-holing in the music press is a hazard many acts have to endure at some point in their careers. However, there are also a number of bands who happily avoid these types of perceived misrepresentations with ease. No need for the usual stock responses of “we’re not really that type of band” or “we’re so much more than that” here. The Three Tremors are Heavy. Fucking. Metal. Pure and simple.
Heavy Metal supergroup KK’s Priest will release their debut album in 2021, in a post revealed on Facebook. The band features former Judas Priest members K.K. Downing (guitar), Tim “Ripper” Owens (vocals), and Les Binks (drums), will release its debut album in 2021 via Explorer1 Music Group. The group will also play select shows next year to mark the 50th anniversary of KK’s old band. Their set will focus on new music and classic hits from the band.