Hard Rock
Tenacious D Announce Summer 2022 US Tour
Tenacious D are taking their comedic-rock awesomeness on the road in 2022, announcing a brief summer US tour. The duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass are set to melt faces with a seven-date run in June, with support from Puddles Pity Party. The tour kicks off with a June 16th set at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado, followed by six headlining shows primarily on the West Coast. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster, with various pre-sales beginning this week. The shows will serve as a belated celebration of Tenacious D’s self-titled debut album, which turned 20 years old this past September. Heavy Consequence recently caught up with Black and Gass via video Zoom to discuss that album, the 15th anniversary of their movie Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, their friendship with Dave...
Alice Cooper Announces Spring 2022 North American Tour
Alice Cooper has announced a Spring 2022 North American tour, with support from Buckcherry on select dates. The shows continue Cooper’s campaign in support of 2021’s Detroit Stories, a tribute to the musical legacy of the Motor City, Cooper’s hometown. The Spring 2022 leg with Buckcherry kicks off March 18th in Mashantucket, Connecticut, and runs through April 20th in Seattle. Cooper will then meet up with ex-KISS guitarist Ace Frehley for joint concerts on April 22nd and April 23rd in Reno, Nevada, and Paso Robles, California, respectively (sans Buckcherry). Get tickets via Ticketmaster. Advertisement Related Video The spring shows follow Cooper’s previously announced early 2022 US tour, which runs through January and February before concluding with an appearance on the Monsters of Rock C...
Prince William: AC/DC Make Me Feel Like I “Can Take on Anything and Anyone”
Prince William has revealed that he listens to AC/DC to get pumped up for royal engagements at the start of the week. The 39-year-old member of the British royal family offered some insight on his listening habits for the Christmas episode of Apple Fitness+’s “Time to Walk” series. “There’s nothing better than, on a Monday morning, when you’re a bit bleary-eyed after the weekend and trying to get yourself back into the grind of the week, listening to AC/DC, ‘Thunderstruck,’” the prince said [via Blabbermouth]. Advertisement Related Video Even after hearing the song “a million times,” Prince William says it still sets him right after the leisures of the weekend. “I have to say the first time I put it on… I was kind of, like, ‘Well, this is quite heavy for a Monday morning,’” he ...
Skillet Frontman Calls Rage Against the Machine “Government Rock,” Insists He’s the “Revolutionary”
Skillet frontman and Christian rocker John Cooper blasted Rage Against the Machine while defending his own anti-vax stance in a new interview. You might remember Cooper’s delusional comments from earlier this year following Cardi B’s controversial Grammy performance. At the time, Cooper compared the Grammy Awards to Hitler and condemned Cardi B for the sexual nature of her stage show. Cooper then tried to backtrack on his remarks. Now the Skillet singer has taken a pot shot at Rage Against the Machine, an outspokenly progressive and left-leaning act. In an interview with Apologia Radio, a church-run program, Cooper elaborated on his thesis that vaccines are a tool of government control “more about tyranny than they are actually keeping people safe.” Advertisement Related Video “What’s real...
Tom Morello Releases New Album, Including “I Have Seen the Way” Featuring Metallica and Rush Members: Stream
Tom Morello has released his second guest-heavy solo album of 2021, The Atlas Underground Flood. The LP is the sister piece to The Atlas Underground Fire, which the Rage Against the Machine guitarist dropped back in October. Morello again tapped a host of famous musical colleagues to contribute, including Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, Rush’s Alex Lifeson, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Nathaniel Rateliff, Ben Harper, and more. Hammett and Lifeson join Morello on the track “I Have Seen the Way,” which also features electronic artist Dr. Fresch. For the guitar fans, the piece is a feast of shredding and vibrant soloing backed by propulsive electro beats. Advertisement Related Video Hammett provides the wah-heavy solos he’s made his trademark in Metallica, while Lifeson provides a more classic-r...
Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen on Servant of the Mind, Tour with Ghost, and Metallica’s Black Album
Danish rockers Volbeat are back with their eighth studio album, Servant of the Mind, just released via Republic Records. Musically, the album hearkens back to the band’s earlier, heavier days, with relentless riffing and punching rhythms, while also representing how far they’ve come as a group. “You can definitely hear a band that sounds very young, but at the same time, a band that has a lot of experience with the style we started so many years ago,” frontman Michael Poulsen tells Heavy Consequence. In addition to releasing the new album, Volbeat are prepping for a highly anticipated co-headlining US arena tour with Swedish metal masters Ghost. The outing kicks off January 25th in Reno, Nevada, and runs through a March 3rd show in Anaheim, California. Tickets are available now via Ticketm...
Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen: “I’ve Always Been Fascinated by Dark Forces”
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Volbeat frontman Michael Poulsen jumps on the line with Kyle Meredith to talk about Servant of the Mind, an album made after a prolific writing period during the first lockdown. The Danish musician discusses the heaviness of the record, what draws him to his dark lyrics, and taking musical inspiration from Black Sabbath. Poulsen also tells us about the supernatural experiences he’s had and how they made their way into the set, and what we might expect from Volbeat’s upcoming tour with Ghost. (Tickets for that tour are available here!) Advertisement Related Video Elsewhere, Poulsen discusses covering The Cramps’ version of Roy ...
Mötley Crüe Sell Entire Recording Catalog to BMG for a Reported $150 Million
This must feel good for Mötley Crüe: The band has sold its entire recording catalog to BMG for a reported $150 million. The deal includes all their studio albums from their 1981 debut, Too Fast for Love, through their most recent LP, 2008’s Saints of Los Angeles, plus their live releases and compilations. While Variety cites sources as valuing the deal at roughly $150 million, the publication also notes that other sources report that the dollar amount is “significantly lower.” Either way, it’s quite a windfall for the hard-rock veterans, who were able to secure the rights to their catalog from Elektra Records in the ’90s with help from manager Allen Kovac. Advertisement Overall, Mötley Crüe have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, with seven of their LPs going platinum or multipla...
Brian May Slams Elimination of Gendered Awards, Wonders If Queen Would Be Forced to Have Transgender Member
Queen guitarist Brian May slammed the BRIT Awards for their removal of gender-specific award categories. He also wondered whether Queen would be have been “forced” to have transgender and multi-racial band members if they existed in present day. In an interview with The Mirror, May compared the BRIT Awards’ shift away from male and female-specific categories to an infringement on personal freedom. He then used the topic to pontificate on a what he calls an “atmosphere of fear” that is plaguing society. “…because people are afraid to say how they really think,” May said with a fearful tone himself, then warning that “there will be some kind of explosion.” Advertisement Related Video Even less tactfully, May went on to say that Queen “would be forced to have people of different colors and di...
2021 Heavy Metal & Hard Rock Holiday Gift Guide
Another holiday season is upon us, and for metal and hard rock fans, that means merch. As fans of heavy music, we support our favorite artists by purchasing physical media, apparel, and memorabilia. It’s an integral part of the heavy metal way of life, and rare are the occasions when we can ask others to buy these precious artifacts for us. Likewise, if you have a fan of metal and hard rock in your life, then you are probably well aware of the genre’s collector culture and obsession with iconography. We would willingly give our hard-earned money for multiple vinyl variants of Slayer’s Hell Awaits. Even better if such a blasphemous record was sitting under the tree on X-mas morning: the ultimate soundtrack to the burning of the yule log. After a year of covering vinyl reissues, book announc...
Evanescence Offer First Look at Graphic Novel The Revolution of Cassandra: Exclusive
Evanescence are gearing up for the release of the second book in their ongoing graphic anthology series, Echoes From the Void, and Heavy Consequence has an exclusive first look at a multi-page excerpt. The new issue, titled The Revolution of Cassandra, was created by singer Amy Lee and film director Eric D. The book features Howell’s story based on Evanescence’s single “Use My Voice” from their 2021 studio album, The Bitter Truth. Howell also directed the music video for “Use My Voice.” Regarding the scene depicted in our exclusive preview, Howell tells Heavy Consequence, “This scene happens early in the story and sets up the central conflict between Cassandra and her sister Moira. Cassandra is all about peace, love, and anything astrological, while Moria is grounded, pragmatic, and c...
Grammys 2022: AC/DC, Deftones, Chris Cornell, Foo Fighters Lead Rock + Metal Nominees
The nominees for the 2022 Grammy Awards have been unveiled, with AC/DC, Deftones, Foo Fighters, and the late Chris Cornell leading the way in the rock and metal categories. Wolfgang Van Halen, Gojira, Mastodon, Dream Theater, and Rob Zombie also received nods in various categories, rounding out an impressive stable of heavy artists being represented at the 2022 ceremony. Nominees for Best Metal Performance — the Grammys’ only metal-centric category — included Deftones for their track “Genesis,” Dream Theater (“The Alien”), Gojira (“Amazonia”), Mastodon (“Pushing the Tides”), and Rob Zombie (“The Triumph of King Freak [A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition]”). Advertisement Related Video In Best Rock Performance, Deftones were nominated for “Ohms” alongside AC/DC (“Shot in the Dark”...
