Italy’s greatest musical export, LACUNA COIL, have returned with the massively anticipated, new full-length release, Shallow Life, which is set for an April 21st North American release. The album was recorded with acclaimed producer Don Gilmore (Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park, Pearl Jam) at the famed NRG Studios in Los Angeles. The group recently completed a stunning new video for the Active Rock smash hit “Spellbound” that was shot in their hometown of Milan, Italy.
Shallow Life is now streaming in it’s entirety on MySpace, giving fans their first chance to hear the new album. LACUNA COIL has also posted a new widget on the page, giving fans access to two songs, new photos and the new video. Make sure you post the widget to your page and show your support.
An incredible, specially priced Shallow Life pre-order package is now exclusively available through CMDistro.com and this is a must for all diehard fans. The limited number package includes the Shallow Life CD, an 8×10 glossy band photo, a guitar pick, shallow life cover sticker and a choice between a LACUNA COIL necklace or belt buckle. NOTE: All materials included are exclusive to this pre-order and can’t be found anywhere else. Be sure to click on the link below now as supplies are limited. http://www.cmdistro.com/Artist/Lacuna_Coil/11291
Fans can now also rejoice as LACUNA COIL is performing some new material on this spring’s “Music As A Weapon IV” festival. LACUNA COIL joins such hard rock titans as Disturbed and Killswitch Engage crisscrossing the U.S. before finishing May 16th. The 38-city “Music As A Weapon IV” fest marks the group’s first run of North America in almost two years. Feel free to visit the newly revamped http://www.myspace.com/lacunacoil to view their complete touring itinerary.
LACUNA COIL
Music As A Weapon IV w/ Disturbed, Killswitch Engage & Chimaira
04/11 Amway Arena – Orlando, FL
04/13 Bojangles Coliseum – Charlotte, NC
04/14 1st Mariner Arena – Baltimore, MD
04/15 Tsongas Arena – Lowell, MA
04/17 Bryce Jordan Center – State College, PA
04/18 Cumberland County Civic Center – Portland, ME
04/20 Erie Civic Center – Erie, PA
04/21 Izod Center – East Rutherford, NJ
04/22 Arena at Harbor Yard – Bridgeport, CT
04/24 Crown Coliseum – Fayetteville, NC
04/25 Sovereign Center – Reading, PA
04/27 Glens Falls Civic Center – Glens Falls, NY
04/28 Petersen Center – Pittsburgh, PA
04/30 Kellogg Arena – Battle Creek, MI
05/02 Cobo Arena –Detroit, MI
05/03 The Wolstein Center – Cleveland, OH
05/05 Value City Arena – Columbus, OH
05/06 Peoria Civic Center – Peoria, IL
05/08 Target Center – Minneapolis, MN
05/09 Balloon Classic Field – Des Moines, IA
05/10 Resch Center – Green Bay, WI
05/12 Lacrosse Center – Lacrosse, WI
05/13 Roberts Stadium – Evansville, ID
05/15 Mid America Center – Council Bluffs, IA
05/16 Charter One Pavillion – Chicago, IL
MySpace Music has just premiered the video for “The Night” from hard-rock titans DISTURBED. The band enlisted director Noble Jones (3 Doors Down, Jack’s Mannequin) this time out and the clip’s stark imagery is fitting for the track’s dark guitar tones and brooding vocal melodies. Jones looked to classic sci-fi/horror movies like Alien and John Carpenter’s The Thing for inspiration and the results are haunting.
“The Night” comes off Indestructible, Disturbed’s Gold certified fourth studio album. Continuing their exhaustive touring in support of the album, the band is currently headlining the “Music Is A Weapon” tour which runs through June. Check out all of the Disturbed’s tour dates here.
Head over to www.CrackTheSkye.com and get ready to have your mind blown! The new MASTODON micro site has just launched and features animation inspired by their upcoming album Crack the Skye. Like their previous releases, the new artwork was created by Paul Romano (Trivium, Godflesh). The site also features the world premiere of the sweeping instrumental, “Oblivion” plus a 60 second snippet of the track “Divinations.”
The new album was produced by Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Stone Temple Pilots, Neil Young) at Southern Tracks Studios in Atlanta, GA. Drummer/lyricist Brann Dailor described the album as more “focused” and told TheQuietus.com, “Maybe there was a deeper heart to this record that needed more exploring. We got more involved with feeling the vibe of the record and everything feels creepier and spaced out…something special is going on.”
Crack the Skye hits stores on March 24th.
First came The Scorpions… Then Tokio Hotel… and now, the next big thing in androgynous German pop metal ready to conquer America, Cinema Bizarre:
Cinema Bizarre. Who would have thought those two words could so perfectly sum up this five piece Berlin based band? The individual look, the explosive shows and the glamour of the movies tied in with a sound that refuses to be pigeonholed. First and foremost there is the music. Glam, New Wave, Electro, New Romantic, Rock. It’s a fusion of all of these and more! As lead singer Strify explains, “Our sound stands for a big firework – musically and emotionally. We want to fascinate the people and lead them to another world with our songs.”
Along with Strify, Kiro, Yu, Shin and Luminor found each other on the internet – a series of chance emails and a shared love of ‘Visual Kei’ the Japanese youth culture. It’s all about individuality, self development and rebellion and for many in Japan a way of showing the world that won’t be suppressed. The bond is natural. As bassist Kiro says, “Every one of us is fascinated with Visual Kei and it’s a part of us – together as a band, we’re taking it one step further and making something of our own out of it.” From cyberspace, they met up for the first time at a Manga/Anime convention and secured a record deal shortly after. Just three easy steps!
And then the album. “Final Attraction”. A collection of songs that reflect the individual music tastes of each of the band whilst still having that Cinema Bizarre sound! The album went Top 10 on initial release in the crowded album market at the end of last year whilst the first single “Love Songs’” followed the same path. And in keeping with all that Cinema Bizarre are about, the video for “Love Songs” has already been viewed over a million times on YouTube! The follow up single “Forever Or Never” is showing the same credentials with over 100,000 views of the video in it’s first week.
Lovesongs (They Kill Me) - Cinema Bizarre
And it is the internet where Cinema Bizarre has grown from the very start. Naturally, organically and at an incredible rate! There are websites and forums dedicated to the band all over the world. In far flung areas where their individual look and sound has been welcomed like an oasis in the musical desert. Over 10,000 visitors a day visit sites to find out the latest on the band.
And this interest and passion for the band has extended to luminaries like King of Punk, Malcolm McClaren, who has offered to write for the band and Depeche Mode, who gave the band rare permission to sample one of their hits, Everything Counts, on “Escape To The Stars”. Some praise indeed!
With this kind of backing coupled with a rapidly expanding army of Cinema Bizarre lovers around the world promises great things for a band whose look and sound are undeniably different. The release of Final Attraction looks likely to turn into a case of First Love for anyone that hears it!
A completely sold out Final Attraction Tour 2008 with thousands of fans all across Europe and Eastern Europe reflects once more that Cinema Bizarre are on a successful path and ready to conquer the world.
The New Year has already started with another milestone: In January 2009 Cinema Bizarre was awarded with the “European Border Breaker Award” for best selling debut album of a German band in Europe.
Currently the band is working on their second hit record “toyZ” which is scheduled for release in 2009.
It has been announced that the newly released “Shout” video from thrashers BLACK TIDE will be featured on mtvU’s new artist show, The Freshman. The show spotlights emerging artists both on air and online, with a chance for one of the competing videos to get an automatic add into rotation on the channel the following week. Be sure to visit http://freshmen.mtvu.com and vote! Fans can vote as many times as they want.
On the strength of their electric debut album, Light From Above, BLACK TIDE has been voted “Best New Artist” from several media outlets including Guitar World, Kerrang!, and TheGauntlet.com.
BLACK TIDE is currently overseas in the UK touring with Bring Me The Horizon, Mindless Self Indulgence and others. The band will return home in February to kick off a US tour with Escape The Fate. BLACK TIDE will also be a main stage performer all summer long on Warped Tour 2009.
Black Tide w/ Escape the Fate:
2/5 - Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
2/6 - Phoenix, AZ - Marquee
2/7 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine
2/8 - El Paso, TX - Chic’s Billiards
2/10 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
2/11 - San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
2/12 - Houston, TX - Meridian
2/13 - Metairie, LA - High Ground
2/15 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
2/16 - Orlando, FL - Firestone
2/17 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
2/18 - Charlotte, NC - Amos’s Southend
2/19 - Towson, MD - Recher Theater
2/20 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
2/21 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza
2/22 - Boston, MA - Middle East
2/24 - Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
2/25 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
2/27 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
2/28 - Pontiac, MI - The Crofoot
3/1 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
3/3 - Milwaukee, WI - Rave II
3/4 - Minneapolis, MN - Station 4
3/6 - Denver, CO - Cervantes
3/7 - Salt Lake City, UT - Murray Theatre
3/8 - Idaho Falls, ID - ICON
3/9 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory
3/10 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
3/11 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
3/13 - Orangevale, CA - Boardwalk
3/14 - San Francisco, CA - Slims
3/15 - Bakersfield, CA - The Dome
3/17 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
3/18 - Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues
Here is the teaser clip for the deluxe edition of Scream Aim Fire from Bullet For My Valentine:
Britain’s metal heroes Bullet For My Valentine will release a deluxe version of their sophomore album, Scream Aim Fire. The limited edition enhanced CD/DVD package will hit stores on December 9, 2008 and includes the original album in its entirety along with four bonus tracks—three new songs (“Road to Nowhere,” “Watching Us Die Tonight,” and “One Good Reason Why”) that are exclusive to the Deluxe Edition, as well as “Ashes of the Innocent,” a track previously available of SAF vinyl and digital download only. The CD also features all 11 Scream Aim Fire mini-comics illustrated by noted underground artist Tom Manning, most of which have never been seen before. On the bonus DVD, fans will find music videos for the title track, “Waking The Demon” and “Hearts Burst Into Fire,” along with five hilarious new episodes of Bullet TV, the band’s long-running series of behind-the-scenes home movies, all filmed and edited by the band members themselves while on tour in Switzerland, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Scream Aim Fire: Deluxe Edition caps off an exciting year for the foursome Kerrang! Magazine named Best British Band in 2008. Band members Michael Thomas, Jason James, Matt Tuck and Michael Paget have toured worldwide in support of their second Jive album, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart and made the Top 5 in six other countries, Germany and Austria (No. 3), Japan and Australia (No. 4), and the U.K. and Sweden (No. 5). The title track to Scream Aim Fire also landed a coveted spot on the new video game Guitar Hero World Tour.
On the road, the band co-headlined the 2008 Taste of Chaos tour in the U.S. and sold out a trek to Australia in Spring 2008. Their recently completed U.K. tour also sold out in advance and included a tremendous bow at London’s 8,000-seat Alexander Palace, which was filmed for future release as a Hi-Def concert DVD. The band also played the 2008 Reading and Leeds festivals and are currently wrapping a sold out EU tour with plans to take a break for the holidays before hitting the Big Day Out festivals in Australia and New Zealand.
Here is the first look at new Metallica music. The album, Death Magnetic, is apparently through the mixing stage and the band “could not contain themselves any longer”. On first impression it sounds a lot more like old Metallica than we’ve seen in recent years, which is very promising. Can’t wait to hear the entire album, check out “Cyanide”:
According the Lars the new songs are a mix of “hardcore”, “nutty” and “long”… interesting. Here some bullet points outlining the key points of the interview from Spin:
– The yet-to-be titled new record will drop sometime in September.
– The quartet will wrap production on the record next week, “by Wednesday or Thursday,” Ulrich confirms.
– The band hit the studio “with 26 songs,” then “went down to 14 with Rick [Rubin, producer]” and recorded 11. Only 10 songs will make the final tracklisting.
– The album’s tunes, “long… nutty ass songs,” will not be edited, and are “seven minutes, eight minutes, nine minutes” in length, recalling “some of the earlier records.”
– Sonically, the songs are “definitely all over the place… with a lot of variations.” Definitely “hardcore” and “nutty,” Lars says.
– This week the quartet have been working with its graphic designer on the album art.
– In the recording of the new set Metallica were seeking “a little bit of a more sane environment,” unlike the records they produced in the early ’90s. “And we’ve been able to keep that,” Ulrich says.
Here’s a great list made by the gang at AllMusic.com featuring 10 lesser known bands that will rock your socks off.
So far my favorite is Earl Greyhound, but they’re all pretty awesome.
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