Welcome, bangers, to this week’s jam packed edition of Shred Vicious. We kick off this edition with some killer new tour announcements and updates!
Kiss & Motley Crue have announced a second Sydney show, now bringing this Monster tour to eight Australian shows. It’s unclear if any more Aussie dates will be added at this point but with tickets selling so well, anything is possible!
Returning to our shores in March are metallers Ensiferum. The band is set to perform tracks off their latest smashing album Unsung Heroes along with fan favourites. Playing dates along the East Coast, fans will be treated to the ‘take no prisoners’ approach typical of the energy, power and 100% raw and honest commitment given by Ensiferum on each and every one of their live performances. Bane Of Isildur have picked up the national support slot for the tour; Brisbane fans will also be treated to hometown metallers Largerstein.
One of the acts that will be performing on the sold out Soundwave Festival bill in February has announced their official touring line-up. Kingdom Of Sorrow, which features core members Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed) and Kirk Windstien (Down/Crowbar), will be joined in Australia by Charlie Bellmore, Chris Beaudette (both from Nightbitch) and Nick Bellmore (Toxic Holocaust). With that line-up Kingdom of Sorrow will sure as hell put on one killer set not to be missed!
Still on the touring front... Swedish metallers Eluveitie will be touring Australia in May! The band, which features eight members, has been described best as 'high octane folk metal'.
'80s hard rocker Mike Tramp (White Lion) has announced he will be performing two very special acoustic shows in Sydney and Melbourne in February. These will be Mike’s first shows in Australia in six years. The show is set to run for almost three hours, taking fans on a journey from his beginnings as the frontman of White Lion, through his '90s tenure with Freak of Nature to his solo career that started with Capricorn in 1998, right up to his last two albums with the Rock'n'Roll Circuz. The songs will be laid bare and performed in their rawest form — just as Mike wrote them originally on acoustic guitar.
Extreme British metal legends Carcass have confirmed they are hard at work on a brand new studio album. This will be the band's first studio album in seventeen years. Guitarist Michael Amott and drummer Daniel Erlandsson, who have been touring with Carcass since the band's reunion was announced in 2007, are no longer involved with the group due to scheduling conflicts with their main band, Arch Enemy. Joining guitarist Bill Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker in the studio for the new recording sessions was drummer Matthias Voigt of German death metal and hardcore fusionists Heaven Shall Burn. The band are currently trying to secure a deal for the new album, which is expected to be released in March/April 2013.
Bassist Nick Oliveri has rejoined Kyuss Lives! Since his return to the band alongside former Kyuss members Brant Bjork and John Garcia, the band has announced a name change to Vista Chino. The band are set to play their last shows under the Kyuss Lives banner at the Australian Soundwave Festivals.
In related news, Oliveri has contributed vocals to the upcoming Queens Of The Stone Age album, which will feature Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl on drums. Grohl recently spoke about his drumming role in Queens of the Stone Age, saying: "With Queens, there were no boundaries with that band, there were no limits with them. It was like if you did something insane, you'd do more, if you did something that seemed too ridiculous and honestly the new Queens Of The Stone Age record, I'm playing drums on that, and I'll do something so completely ridiculous, I'll just, like, 'There's no way that that Josh is going to let me do that,' and he'll say, 'Do that for forty-five seconds, over and over again, that's become, like, part of the song, that is a big part of the song,' and that's the way they work."
Motley Crue fans can really start getting excited as it looks like a new album isn’t too far away. Having recently released the single 'Sex' to coincide with the North American leg of the joint Kiss & Motley Crue tour, bassist Nikki Sixx has now taken to Facebook, like all cool rockstars do, posting an update to fans that said "So glad we recorded the new Mötley Crüe track 'Sex' and actually got it out in time for the last tour for you to hear live. Obviously, there is much more to come (as always). Mick Mars told me he has so many riffs ready to go to... But 'Sex' was just a taste of some 'new CRÜE.' I've personally been writing my ass off for months now. Feeling really inspired to follow it up with the rest of the songs from the band, too." With no confirmed timeline in place right now it sounds like we could have new Crue music by mid-2013.
Silverstein have announced plans to release their upcoming seventh studio album on February 8, entitled This Is How The Wind Shifts. Commenting on the new album, vocalist Shane Told says: “The idea of this album is how a person’s life can change forever with just one event. It is the 'what if' that everyone thinks about from time to time. This album is different from a typical start to finish story concept album, or an album where all the songs have a common theme. Each track has a parallel track that tells the story in a different light, what would have happened if things were different due to a single event... This Is How The Wind Shifts is a journey that jumps around but stays cohesive, with underlying meaning and stories that have a real human meaning and cater to the soul.”
During a time when most in the music business are trying their hardest to make sure fans continue to spend money buying their products, British heavy metal giants Motörhead are encouraging the opposite! A new box set, called Complete Early Years, has just come out from the company who has the rights to the band's early recordings, and they are charging over $600 for it! Earlier this year, the band was able to temporarily halt the product from coming out, but now Motörhead has learned that the label is moving ahead with the project, which is scheduled for release this month. Before the initial release was blocked, Motörhead's iconic frontman Lemmy said: "Unfortunately, greed once again rears its yapping head. I would advise against it even for the most rabid completists!"
Lemmy now adds: "It really bothers me that these people would put this out at these prices especially in this day and age, when money is tight. There you go again labels, trying to squeeze out every last dime you can from our fans. But they reap what they sow, don't they? Look what's going on with the music business. These are fine examples of corporate greed: reissuing the same stuff over and over again, overcharging the customers with outrageous pricing, basically trying to rape our fanbase. Although we still make money from record sales, this is not the way I ever intended it. I do not like to see fans getting ripped off or taken advantage of. And that's what's happening here."
