Headbangers, welcome to Shred Vicious, your weekly round-up of all things heavy.
We kick off this week’s edition with great news for Korn fans... The band has written fifteen new songs and are on the hunt as we speak for a producer. In related news, the band have announced they will reunite with former guitarist Brian "Head" Welch for two shows at next year's edition of the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals, set to take place June 7-9 in the German towns of Nürburgring and Nürnberg, respectively. In May, Welch joined the band onstage at the Carolina Rebellion festival in Rockingham, marking his first appearance with the band in seven years. Could this be the beginning of Head’s official return? Only time will tell!
Black Veil Brides have revealed their forthcoming third record Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones will be a concept album. Singer Andy Biersack recently explained the theme of the new LP: “The story follows this group of outcast leaders, rebels, through their journey to defeat this fear, which is an acronym for every and all religion... There’s this unified church government. Their sole goal is to remove all science and creativity and original thought from society, yet de-evolve things a little bit and make it darkness. The idea of fear and shadows play a large role and how people can escape from their own fears.” The album is due out early January.
Nine Inch Nails fans have a good reason to get excited this week with vocalist and backbone of NIN, Trent Reznor, announcing that he is working on material for a new album. Talking to a US journalist recently, Reznor also stated that the possibility of more NIN live shows wasn’t ruled out. . "Yeah, if it feels right, it's a possibility... I never said that that wasn't going to happen, just that it couldn't go on as it was.” Let’s see how this plays out in coming months, shall we?
On the home front we’d like to give a huge shout-out to Parkway Drive, who have been smashing charts around the world with their latest album Atlas hitting the Australian charts at #3. Atlas charted well in New Zealand, UK and across Europe. Parkway Drive will be showcasing new tracks next month when they begin their final Aussie shows for 2012.
Speaking of tours... this week Puscifer, featuring the legendary Maynard James Keenan, announced shows across the east coast in February. Tix will go on sale Friday Nov 16 at 9am from the usual outlets.
In other touring news, legendary shock rockers Kiss and Los Angeles bad boys Motley Crue will be returning to Australia together in March and they’re bringing Thin Lizzy with them. I spoke with Kiss drummer Eric Singer earlier this week, and he said he's very excited to be bringing the tour to Australia, and that it's just as fun for the bands as it is the fans! We sure can’t wait to see this one!
Ending this week’s edition on a sad note, Suicide Silence vocalist Mitch Lucker has been laid to rest. Mitch, who died on November 1 after sustaining head injuries caused from a motorcycle accident on Halloween night, was farewelled in a ceremony attended by family and friends, including Suicide Silence bassist Dan Kenny, who tweeted afterwards: "Had to bury my brother today, he looked peaceful when I saw him. It was very hard but it was needed! To the fans, just know Mitch loved yall."
