Heavy Music News
Liturgy’s Hunter Hunt-Hendrix Comes Out Publicly as Transgender
Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, the leader of the acclaimed experimental black metal group Liturgy, has come out publicly as transgender, writing, “I am a woman.” In an Instagram post, Hunt-Hendrix discussed her previous hesitance in making a statement, remarking, “I could have done this before Liturgy started, but I didn’t, out of fear. I knew I was female and not male, emotionally and in my experience of my body. But I was afraid – of social rejection, romantic rejection, career rejection, rejection by my family, failure.” Hunt-Hendrix’s statement reads in full: “I am a woman. I’ve always been one. The love I have to give is a woman’s love, if only because it is mine. To varying degrees many already understand this, but I’d like to make a clear statement about my actual gender. I could have done th...
Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt to Score Jonas Åkerlund’s New Netflix Miniseries Clark
Fellow Swedish artists Jonas Åkerlund and Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt are set to collaborate on a new Netflix miniseries called Clark. Åkerlund will direct while Åkerfeldt will provide the soundtrack for the six-part gangster story. Between Åkerlund and Åkerfeldt, there’s some serious metal pedigree. Åkerlund, a former drummer for Bathory, recently helmed the black metal biopic Lords of Chaos, and has directed numerous music videos for bands like Metallica, U2, and others. As for Åkerfeldt, his prolific songwriting output in the bands Opeth and Bloodbath is more than a worthy resume, with Clark being his first music score project. The miniseries is a six episode drama about Swedish criminal Clark Olofsson, who’s considered the country’s first celebrity “pop-gangster” and “has given ris...
Experts Recommend No Moshing or Crowdsurfing Once Concerts Return
The coronavirus pandemic has temporarily changed the future of live music. Drive-in concerts are now a thing, as are drive-in raves, because experts predict shows won’t return until 2021. With prominent figures like Live Nation now planning to resume concerts at “full scale” next year, organizers at nonprofit Event Safety Alliance have drafted a new guide to keep concertgoers and venue employees safe. Unfortunately, it includes a temporary ban on moshing and crowdsurfing (via Alternative Press). The Event Safety Alliance guide was created to help venues that plan to reopen eventually but want to do so safely. The suggestions within the document were written after staff members Steven Adelman and Jacob Worek spoke to over 400 promoters, caterers, Ticketmaster employees, and other worke...
Trapt to Release “Probably One of the Top 5 Albums That Will Ever Exist for All of Time,” Says Trapt
Trapt singer Chris Taylor Brown has been making headlines lately for challenging other bands to fights, defending President Trump’s actions on the coronavirus pandemic, and touting his own group’s Pandora streaming numbers. But now he’s ready to let some new music do the talking … well, actually he’s already doing the talking before the music even comes out. The hard-rock band, best known for the 2002 hit “Headstrong”, has announced that its eighth album, Shadow Work, will arrive on June 19th. Furthermore, Trapt planned to release the singles “Make It Out Alive” and “Tell Me How You Really Feel” this Friday, May 15th, followed by another song, “Far Enough Away”, but decided to make them all available as instant grat tracks for those who pre-order the album starting today (May 12th). B...
Rammstein and Guns N’ Roses Both Call Off European Tours Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
Rammstein’s Till Lindemann (photo by Jens Koch), Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose (photo by Amy Harris) Two of rock’s biggest live acts will not be touring Europe this spring and summer, as planned, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rammstein and Guns N’ Roses have each announced that they’ve called off their respective outings. Rammstein were scheduled to embark on a new leg of their “Stadium Tour” on May 25th in Klagenfurt, Austria, and remain on the European run until August 4th in Aarhus, Denmark. As of now, there has been no official announcement regarding the band’s late summer North American run, which is slated to kick off August 20th in Montreal. Rammstein, who’ve been touring in support of their 2019 untitled album, explained the European tour cancellation: “Due to local eve...
#MetallicaMondays: Watch Metallica Perform “The Black Album” in Full at 2012 Austria Show
Metallica have been digging through their vast archive of live performance footage for their weekly #MetallicaMondays concert series. The latest installment should particularly appeal to fans of “The Black Album”, as the band unearths a back-to-front performance of the LP recorded in 2012 in Austria. The footage captures Metallica’s headlining set for the Nova Rock Festival on June 10th, 2012 in Nickelsdorf, Austria. After playing a handful of hits including “Master of Puppets”, the band launched in a full performance of 1991’s Metallica (aka “The Black Album”) in reverse order, starting with “The Struggle Within”. After playing the full album, they finished the lengthy show with a few more hits. The set and the band’s respective European tour celebrated the 20th anniversary of the legenda...
Shinedown Singer Says Band’s Summer Tour Is Still a Go: “You Can’t Stay Inside Forever”
While most bands are conceding that touring won’t happen for at least the next several months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shinedown frontman Brent Smith says his band is planning as if they’re hitting the road this summer. As he puts it: “We are not afraid to play for you.” Shinedown were forced to postpone their spring North American “Deep Dive Tour” due to the pandemic, but quickly rescheduled the dates for the summer, before health experts and government officials started predicting that concerts wouldn’t resume until 2021. In a new interview with Jose Mangin for Zippo Live, Smith explained that the band is still hoping to honor the newly scheduled dates. “We are supposed to be on tour right now doing that tour, interspersed with headlining some festivals,” said Smith. “We rescheduled...
Suicide Silence Announce Plans for Virtual World Tour
With the concert industry shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bands are coming up with new and creative ways to present live music to their fans. Suicide Silence have just announced plans for a “Virtual World Tour”, in which they will play streaming concerts for select geographic areas. Each performance will feature the band playing a full set professionally filmed by multiple cameras, followed by a Q&A session. The shows will be geo-gated, meaning only people within a certain radius of the city on the virtual tour stop will be able to purchase tickets to view that concert. The band has not unveiled an itinerary yet, but expects to launch the tour with virtual shows in New York and Los Angeles in June. Fans in each market will be able to purchase merchandise unique to that particul...
Puscifer Unveil New Song “Apocalyptical” with Dancing Maynard James Keenan in Video: Stream
Puscifer recently teased new music coming soon, and they’ve delivered with the brand-new song “Apocalyptical”. The track is accompanied by a surreal video featuring singer Maynard James Keenan showing off a few dance moves. While Puscifer had recorded much of their new album last year, the band originally planned to release new music in 2021, to allow Keenan to complete his touring duties with Tool. But with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing Tool to postpone their tour, Keenan decided to unveil the first new Puscifer song in nearly five years much earlier than expected. “Apocalyptical” is a groovy mid-tempo tune with a dance-like beat, as Keenan and co-vocalist Carina Round deliver whispery lines like, “Go on, moron/ Ignore the evidence/ Skid in to armageddon/ Tango apocalyptical.” The video f...
Within Temptation Unleash New Song “Entertain You”: Stream
Within Temptation have released the new song “Entertain You”, a stand-alone single that was intended to coincide with the Dutch symphonic metal band’s now-postponed European tour with Evanescence. The song crashes in with heavy, towering riffs, before pulling back for Sharon den Adel’s emotive vocals. According to a press release “Entertain You” is about “the urge for self-gratification at the expense of others.” A statement from the band further explained, “Offenses, victimization, and exploitation. That happens every day and is mainly justified under the name of economic necessity, politics, religion, culture, sex, and race.” Sharon den Adel also issued her own statement, remarking, “We often cannot and do not want to see the consequences of our urge to satisfy our personal needs. T...
Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers Assures Fans He’s Alive, But Doesn’t Mention Brian Howe’s Passing
On Thursday came the sad news that onetime Bad Company singer Brian Howe had died at age 66 of cardiac arrest. Apparently, the headlines led some to think that founding and current Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers had passed, leading the legendary rock vocalist to assure fans, “I’m very much alive.” However, Rodgers didn’t acknowledge Howe in his video message, and that very well may have had to do with the pair’s relationship. Rodgers formed Bad Company in 1973 after his stint fronting another legendary rock outfit, Free. He remained with the group until Bad Company disbanded in 1982, releasing a series of classic albums during that period. When Bad Company re-formed in 1986, they tapped Brian Howe as their vocalist, and went on to achieve additional success, including the platinum-certi...
Punk Supergroup Fake Names (Refused, Bad Religion) Unveil Self-Titled Debut Album: Stream
Glen E. Friedman, photo by Glen E. Friedman The new punk supergroup Fake Names — featuring singer Dennis Lyxzén (Refused), guitarist Brian Baker (Bad Religion, Minor Threat), and more — have unleashed their self-titled debut album via Epitaph Records, and its available to stream now. The band’s lineup also includes guitarist-singer Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace, One Last Wish) and bassist Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside). The genesis of Fake Names began when Hampton and Baker started hashing out new music together back in 2016. With Temple added to the lineup, Hampton and Baker approached Lyxzén at Chicago’s Riot Fest, and he immediately jumped at the chance to join the group. The self-titled debut features the previously released lead single “Brick” along with nine other tr...
