Queensrÿche, Tesla, Michael Schenker, Krokus, Extreme, Winger, Stephen Pearcy (Ratt) and More Booked for Monsters of Rock Cruise



The annual Monsters of Rock Cruise (MORC) hard rock and heavy metal fan immersive music cruise, is returning for its thirteenth year. Promoter, On the Blue Cruises, has announced the Norwegian Cruise Line‘s Norwegian Joy® will set sail from Port of Miami, Florida March 10 2025, for 5 days/5 nights. It will include performances from over 35 artists on multiple stages, stops at Great Stirrup Cay and Nassau, Bahamas, photo experiences with artists, theme nights, and special events. Head into the article below for more.
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Rocklahoma 2024 Books Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, Evanescence, Disturbed, Lamb Of God, Mastodon, A Day To Remember, Anthrax, Kerry King, and More


After a record-breaking 2023, Rocklahoma returns Friday, August 30, Saturday, August 31 and Sunday, September 1 to Rockin Red Dirt Ranch in Pryor, Oklahoma — just outside Tulsa — with its biggest lineup yet. America’s Biggest Labor Day Party will feature headlining performances from Avenged Sevenfold and Evanescence (Friday), Disturbed, and A Day To Remember (Saturday), and Slipknot and Lamb Of God (Sunday),along with a huge lineup of top rock and metal bands, including Halestorm, Mastodon, Anthrax, Skillet, Clutch, Nothing More, Kerry King, Coal Chamber and Tom Keifer, among others. 2024 marks the Rocklahoma debut appearance for Avenged Sevenfold, and return headlining slots for both Disturbed and Slipknot. Rocklahoma is hosted by Eddie Trunk. Pre-sale passes go on sale tomorro April 3rd, 2024 at the links below. Remaining passes go on sale to the public 4/5

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Monsters On The Mountain Announces Daily Lineups, Kicking-Off Today!


Heavy Metal and Glam Rock-centric festival Monsters On The Mountain have announced the daily lineups for the inaugural event, a three-day hard rock music experience brought to you by the creators of the pioneering Monsters of Rock Cruise, kicking off this Friday (10/15), Saturday (10/16), and Sunday (10/17) at the LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge in Tennessee’s beautiful Great Smoky Mountains.

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Tesla, Vince Neil of Motley Crüe, Night Ranger, Winger, Kix, Slaughter, Firehouse, and More Booked for Monsters on the Mountain


Get ready to rock! Brought to you by the minds behind the  Monsters of Rock Cruise, Monsters on the Mountain brings together the best names in classic 1980s hard rock and hair metal! Taking place this October 15th-17th at the LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge (2986 Teaster Lane, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863) in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, a huge lineup of bands from Tesla, Vince Neil of Motley Crüe, Night Ranger, Winger, Kix, Slaughter, Firehouse, Eclipse, Pat Travers, Bulletboys, Vixen, Kingdom Come, Lynch Mob, Rhino Bucket, Liliac, Native Sons, Gilby Clark, John Corabi, Anthony Corder, Mark Evans, Randy Hansen, and Jeff Scott Soto & Jason Bieler, plus a surprise or two to be announced will perform. Serving as official event hosts are Eddie Trunk (VH1, SiriusXM) and comedians Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine (former hosts of VH1 Classic’s hit TV show, “That Metal Show”). Plus, SiriusXM’s Boneyard and Hair Nation are certain to keep the party going. Tickets are on sale now at the link below! 

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Alice Cooper, Queensrÿche, Cinderella’s Tom Keifer, Skid Row, Lit, L.A. Guns, and More Booked for  Monsters Of Rock Cruise 2022 


 

Rock and metal cruises are coming back post-lockdown. Monsters Of Rock Cruise 2022 will set sail February 9-14  Miami, Florida aboard Royal Caribbean’s Freedom Of The Seas ship, visiting Cococay, Bahamas, and Lababdee Island. The all-star lineup features Alice Cooper and over 35 Artists including Queensrÿche, Cinderella’s Tom Keifer, Skid Row, Lit, L.A. Guns, Kix, Winger, Michael Monroe, Great White, H.E.A.T, Loudness, Pat Travers, Y&T, and many more. Hosted by Eddie Trunk, Don Jamieson, Jim Florentine, Keith Roth, Lüc Carl, Nikki Blakk, Izzy and Brian, Metal Dj Will, and Ginger Fish. The public on-sale begins today, at the link below. 

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Alice Cooper, Beasto Blanco, Winger, John Corabi and More Booked for Operation Monster Beach 2021


 From the creators of the Monsters of Rock Cruise and the Megacruise comes Monsters of Rock – Operation Monster Beach, setting sail for Punta Cana, Dominican Republic in 2021! Expected to be one of the first major Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Travel Experiences for next year. Operation Monster Beach on May 26 – 31, 2021. Going on sale tomorrow, 12/1/2020 to the general public tomorrow, Tuesday, December 1st at 2 pm Eastern time! . The cruise features stops at two resorts and will be headlined by Alice Cooper, Beasto Blanco, Winger,  “The Mayor” of MOR, John Corabi, Signal 13, H.E.A.T., LA Guns, Kix, Vixen, Eclipse, Mike Tramp, Killer Dwarfs, Black N Blue, Bullet Boys, Pink Cream 69, Faster Pussycat, Electric Boys, Joel Hoeksta, XYZ, Little Caeser with many more acts to be announced. Book your tickets tomorrow and get your passport to rock right now! 

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Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour) Writes The Forward for Definitive History Book of Hair Metal


Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor has written the forward to “Nothin’ But A Good Time”, described as the definitive, no-holds-barred oral history of 1980s hard rock and hair metal, will be released on March 16, 2021 via St. Martin’s Press. 1980s hard rock was a hedonistic and often intensely creative wellspring of escapism that perfectly encapsulated — and maybe even helped to define — a spectacularly over-the-top decade. Indeed, fist-pumping hits like Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, Mötley Crüe’s “Girls, Girls, Girls”, and Guns N’ Roses‘ “Welcome To The Jungle” are as inextricably linked to the era as Reaganomics, Pac-Man, and E.T.Continue reading


The Jelly Jam – Profit


The Jelly Jam profit ghostcultmag

With the likes of Dream Theater’s John Myung and Ty Tabor of King’s X in their ranks (alongside Winger’s Rod Morgenstien), one would expect The Jelly Jam to be an ambitious and challenging progressive band, with a wide range of influences in their arsenal. In contrast, over their lifespan, their sound has been a much more direct, song based affair; and latest album Profit (Mascot).

With a plethora of ambitious works and journeys under their belt, Profit still shows them flexing their impressive creative muscles and offering virtuoso performances, but in a more refined and concise manner. This is more straight-forward grunge infused rock with some shades of AOR and the like, for a more gritty but no less immediate hard rock sound. Album opener ‘Care’ is a particularly heavier moment to kick of proceedings and provides an immediately anthemic chorus, preceding the softer, acoustic ‘Stain On The Sun’, before picking pace again.

Herein lies the album’s problem, of an undefined sound which seems to try and encompass too many tones and paces without flowing all too well. Immediately following one of the album’s heavier points with a complete contrast proves somewhat jarring in a manner such rock shouldn’t do. Fortunately the strength of the songs alone, whilst not groundbreaking by any stretch, do hold up strong enough to return to on numerous occasions.

Those unfamiliar with the band before hand may have expected wildly different when noting the personnel involved, but The Jelly Jam are a chance to prove that these guys are not just one trick ponies and can do short, sharp and catchy just as well as sprawling, complex epics. It does still need some refining in their sound to feel truly wholesome; but they have certainly succeeded in making a straight forward, fun album; and that is most definitely the mission.

6.0/10

CHRIS TIPPELL

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Whitesnake – The Purple Album


The_Purple_Album_by_Whitesnake

“I’m sixty-three years old, booking a world tour, the tickets are flying out the door… Why the fuck should I give a fuck?!” was David Coverdale’s rather eloquent response to criticisms of the concept of Whitesnake’s The Purple Album (Frontiers), an album that does exactly what it says on the tin (and then some), revisiting The Cov’s years as frontman of Deep Purple and Whitesnake-ing up a selection of his favourite tunes.

And, the guy has a point (so to speak – as the millions… and millions… of The Cov’s female fans would testify), for not only did he co-write all of these magnificent  and timeless rock songs in the first place, but The Purple Album is a rather fine run through of them that will please both ‘snake and Purple fans alike, as tracks from the 70’s are electrified by the guitar talents of former Winger six-stringer Reb Beach and Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Joel Hoekstra.

It needs to be said, these are not “better” versions of the originals, but new, different versions, presented in vibrant aural technicolour – a thoroughly enjoyable run through of a selection of songs that do benefit from the modern, ballsy rock (but oh-so-slick) production, provided by Coverdale, Beach and Michael McIntyre. It also needs to be acknowledged that this is no bog-standard re-record. What we have here is one of Rock music’s most iconic and distinctive vocalists laying down versions of some truly seminal tracks – ‘Burn’, for example, an instantly identifiable riff and powerful chorus that inspired many . All through, The Cov is on absolute fire, effortlessly wrapping his larynx, like thick, oozing melted chocolate undulating down and over a fulsome breast, around ‘Love Child’, playful and powerful on a driving version of ‘Lady Double Dealer’ that sounds like it could have been on 1987 (EMI/Geffen) or soulful and with gravitas on ‘Soldier of Fortune’. While predominantly a Rock album,  ‘Holy Man’ and ‘Sail Away’ are sensitively delivered by the distinctive, legendary tones of Lord David Coverdale.

What we have is a celebration of Coverdale’s career that sees him taking classic songs from the very beginning of it and peppering them with the condiments of his band, Whitesnake. The only real mis-step is ‘Mistreated’, because despite all the skill and best will in the universe no one can play that song and make those notes sing and emote like Ritchie Blackmore, but it is the only time things don’t quite hit the mark. For when all is said and done, all The Purple Album is, is a(n excellent) selection of Deep Purple songs played by Whitesnake. And a very good thing that is too.

8.5/10

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STEVE TOVEY