Bart's Blabbermouth News Thread

[slayrrr666]

Thought you might enjoy this piece of news:

According to a posting on the ALICE COOPER fan site SickThingsUK, Cooper will release his new album, "Along Came A Spider", in North America on July 29. The CD was co-produced by Greg Hampton and Danny Saber in Los Angeles.

Alice recently told Billboard.biz that his forthcoming LP is "a real 'Alice' album. Conceptually, it's going to be pretty interesting."

Cooper wouldn't reveal too many details, but said the album is based on a fictional serial killer named Spider, who wraps his victims in a silk web. "Every song is sort of a letter to the police," he explains. "They think they're investigating it from the outside, but he's actually woven them into the whole thing."

"Along Came A Spider" track listing (in alphabetical order):

01. Catch Me
02. Hungry
03. I Am The Spider
04. I Know Where You Live
05. (In Touch With) Your Feminine Side
06. Killed By Love
07. Salvation
08. The One That Got Away
09. Vengeance Is Mine
10. Wake The Dead
11. Wrapped In Silk

Plus, click to the website linked below to watch a rather interesting interview with him conducted quite recently as well.

www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=98180

[slayrrr666]

Been awhile, I know, but something worthwhile this time:

German melodic metallers EDGUY recently entered Gate Studios in Wolfsburg, Germany to begin recording the follow-up to 2006's "Rocket Ride". Entitled "Tinnitus Sanctus", the new CD is being produced by Sascha Paeth and is scheduled to be released in November 2008.

EDGUYfrontman Tobias Sammet has answered a few questions for the band's official web site regarding the group's forthcoming CD and the recently completed tour from Sammet's solo project AVANTASIA. The question-and-answer session is available in its entirety below.

Q: Tobias, how do you look back on the Avantasia tour and especially the memorable Wacken show in front of 80.000 people?

Tobias: The whole tour was a great success. We were the first ones to fly an all-star project like this around the world. Wacken was an experience I'd never had before. Of course, we had played to 30,000 people before; EDGUY have played stadiums with IRON MAIDEN or the SCORPIONS, we have toured with AEROSMITH and even on our own tours we played huge crowds here and there but Wacken was beyond your imagination. I stood there and estimated 80,000 family members seemed to tie a bond between them and me. Usually I talk a lot and I joke around but when I was on stage and looked into this ocean of hands in the air I felt something special between the audience and me, and I was almost starting to cry. It was magic and in that moment I felt blessed I am. I know I sound a bit wimpy but I don't fucking care, sometimes you should stop pretending to be a hero and just be thankful for how great life is. And thank the people who made it possible!

Q: There are rumors that there will be an AVANTASIA DVD...

Tobias: Absolutely true. We've had a camera team following us around the world, there will be an extended road documentary movie and we have shot some concerts, Masters Of Rock and Wacken as well. I have seen some scenes already. I got goosebumps all over my body, 80,000 people going crazy. Nobody has ever sent a project like that around the world and we've had cameras following us literally 24 hours a day. We will give fans a very intimate view behind the scenes. It will take some time until it gets released but I swear it will be the kind of DVD you have never ever seen before.

Q: Now you're working on a new EDGUY album "Tinnitus Sanctus" already. Isn't that quite a bit of stress?

Tobias: If it was stress, I wouldn't do it. I played 14 shows in half a year, I finished the latest AVANTASIA album almost one year ago already, I think it's no big deal to write ten songs in twelve months if you don't have a regular job. I don't do drugs, I get high on writing great songs that make my flesh crawl. It's no stress, it's a blessing.

Q: You mentioned that you won't go back to the roots. How would you describe the new material then?

Tobias: We don't go back to the roots. We never denied who we are and where we come from, so I don't see a reason to go back to wherever. I go straight forward and follow my heart as I've always done, "Tinnitus Sanctus" is exactly the music we wanna play, we are happy and I don't give a fuck if it's gonna be our biggest-selling album or not. It's so great, even if my career would go down the drain and this would be the last album, I'd be more than happy to be remembered as the guy who recorded "Tinnitus Sanctus". I'd rather ruin my carreer with a creative killer album like that than trying to play safe with a boring stereotype power metal stinker constructed on a drawing table. We have a couple of song titles such as "Dragonfly", "Dead Or Rock", "Wake Up Dreaming Black" or "Sex Fire Religion". And we'll shoot a video for a very heavy midtempo anthem by the name of "Ministry Of Saints". And there'll be a bonus track called "Aren't You A Little Pervert Too?" which is quite nasty.

Q: But not long ago you said the album won't turn out as goofy as "Rocket Ride"?

Tobias: I don't think "Rocket Ride" was totally goofy, but maybe it was too obvious that we wanted to show the world that we're ready to disregard conventions. "Tinnitus Sanctus" is a serious album, only with a subtle scent of humor here and there. It's not like "Rocket Ride", it's got bigger balls! "Little Pervert" is just a song about several ways of interaction, a game for one to seven players, haha. Incest is a game the whole family can play, haha. Seriously, the key message is that no matter what you are during the day time, when the lights go down we are all dirty little animals! It's not about me personally, it's pretty funny. Metal and humor go well together, otherwise why would old men go on stage in loincloths and warpaint pretending to be Conan the Barbarian? That's tongue-in-cheek and that's cool and I love people who don't take themselves too serious. I feel a little bit like God, he doesn't take himself as half as seriously as his fans do, that's what those two clowns, god and me, have got in common. Have you ever seen an aardvark? Check it out and then tell me, do you really believe God has no sense of humor?

Q: And when is the album due to be released?

Tobias: The album is gonna be released November 16th, as we wanted to focus on the album, we don't release a single or EP in advance. The album is all that counts. We'll release the video online in October, instead of a regular single. The stuff is so fucking cool, it's better promotion than a regular single, wait and you'll be knocked off your feet!

www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=102814

[Bartwald]

The new Edguy album is a must-have, obviously. I just hope there's no ballad on it - definitely prefer the rockier side of Sammet.

As for Alice Cooper's latest - I listened to it and it's fine, but not as good as the previous album, Dirty Diamonds. Great artwork, though - one of the very best in Alice's career.

[slayrrr666]

If we're talking about Edguy ballads, I kinda like Forever from Hellfire Club. Not one of their best songs, but I can stand it pretty nicely, which is a pet peeve against the genre.

[Bartwald]

That's one of their better ballads, yeah. I just think that Tobi watered down Scarecrow a bit, and was afraid he might do the same mistake on the next Edguy album. Doesn't seem to be the case, though.

By the way, slayrrr: what do you think of the band Laaz Rockit? I'm now listening to their comeback album and it's first quality old school thrash - I'm truly amazed!

[slayrrr666]

From what I've heard, Scarecrow isn't that bad and is somewhat decent, though I've only got about three or four songs to go on. I haven't picked it up yet, been dealing with the family for awhile and haven't had a chance to pick anything up in a while but it's near the top of my list when I do.

As for Laaz Rockit, I've only heard of the song Leatherface, so I don't know enough to judge. They're a thrash band so I doubt I'm not going to be a big fan of them.

[Bartwald]

Don't get me wrong, slayrrr - Scarecrow is a good album, it's just that it would be even better if it had more energetic tracks on it (like the two previous Avantasia albums). I just started to worry that Tobi is making a U-turn into a "ballad metal" territory with Scarecrow - hopefully the new Edguy material will prove this wrong.

[slayrrr666]

I know that, I agree that when Edguy rocks out, they're incredibly fun. That's why Hellfire Club is still they're best album, as there's hardly a slow track on the album and it stays up-tempo the whole way through.

[slayrrr666]

Bart, here's some great news I know we're both looking forward to:

GAMMA RAY's long-awaited 2-DVD/2-CD DVD package "Hell Yeah! The Awesome Foursome (And The Finnish Keyboarder Who Didn't Want To Wear His Donald Duck Costume) Live in Montreal", is scheduled for release on October 27 in Europe and November 4 in the U.S. via SPV. The set will feature a multi-camera recording of the band's May 6, 2006 show at Medley in Montreal, Quebec, several "road movies," promotional clips, and footage from the group's January 2008 concert in Barcelona, Spain.

Band leader Kai Hansen looks back at GAMMA RAY's first American tour with pride and great joy, saying: "We had played in the States only once before, so this was our first headliner tour of America. Of course we had no idea what exactly to expect, but the reactions were overwhelming. The tickets sold extremely well, and the atmosphere was amazing night after night. What you see on the footage from Montreal is what we experienced at almost every show."

He continued: "We had been thinking about releasing a live DVD for a long time, especially as our faithful fans had been nagging us about one for years. Unfortunately we'd never had the time to plan and realise such a large-scale project. Well, here you go! This is a DVD the way we like it: diverse and multi-faceted, featuring a musical cross-section of the GAMMA RAY albums recorded by the current line-up since 1998. The road movie speaks for itself, and those nice little extras are great mementoes of our band history to date."

The DVD's humorous subtitle "… And The Finnish Keyboarder Who Didn't Want To Wear His Donald Duck Costume…" refers to keyboardist Eero Kaukomies who plays in the GAMMA RAY cover band GUARDIANS OF MANKIND from Helsinki and who performed with GAMMA RAY during its entire American tour. Hansen explained: "During the tour, Henjo suddenly noticed that Eero has a somewhat duck-like walk. So the crazy idea developed to make him wear a Donald Duck costume at the show in Montreal and present him to the audience. Naturally, this great suggestion didn't meet with much enthusiasm from Eero, and the whole thing became a running gag." Hansen added with a wink: "By the way, the 'awesome foursome' refers to Henjo, Dirk, Daniel and myself, in case you were wondering."

GAMMA RAY will travel to Russia at the beginning of September and is scheduled to tour America and Canada this fall. And the rest of the year? "We are collecting ideas for our next studio album," Hansen revealed. "Quite a few of them have already piled up, so come autumn we will probably begin to sort through them and go to the studio in January 2009."

Track Listing – DVD:

DVD 1 – Montreal Show 2006

01. Welcome
02. Gardens Of The Sinner
03. New World Order
04. Man On A Mission
05. Fight
06. Blood Religion
07. Heavy Metal Universe
08. Dreamhealer
09. The Heart Of The Unicorn
10. Fairytale
11. The Silence
12. Beyond The Blackhole
13. Valley Of The Kings
14. Somewhere Out In Space
15. Land Of The Free
16. Rebellion In Dreamland
17. I Want Out
18. Send Me A Sign

DVD 2

Road Movie:

* Documentary from the Northamerican Tour

Video Clips:

* Space Eater
* One With The World
* Gamma Ray
* Rebellion In Dreamland
* Send Me A Sign
* Heavy Metal Universe
* Eagle
* Into The Storm

Live At Wacken Open Air 2003

* One With The World
* Last Before The Storm

Live At Wacken Open Air 2006

* Rebellion In Dreamland
* Heavy Metal Universe
* Somewhere Out In Space

Historay: Over the years private movies, backstage scenes and live performances
Unplugged: Kai and Henjo unplugged in Japan

DVD 3 (Bonus, only Europe)

Four songs from "Land Of The Free II" recorded live in Barcelona during the "Hellish Rock" tour with HELLOWEEN in January 2008:

01. Into The Storm
02. Empress
03. From The Ashes
04. Real World

Plus Backstage scenes, soundchecks, etc...

Track Listing CD:

CD 1

01. Welcome
02. Gardens Of The Sinner
03. New World Order
04. Man On A Mission
05. Fight
06. Blood Religion
07. Heavy Metal Universe
08. Dreamhealer
09. The Heart Of The Unicorn
10. Fairytale
11. The Silence

CD 2

01. Beyond The Blackhole
02. Valley Of The Kings
03. Somewhere Out In Space
04. Land Of The Free
05. Rebellion In Dreamland
06. I Want Out
07. Send Me A Sign

Bonus Tracks:

08. Into The Storm
09. Empress
10. From The Ashes
11. Real World

www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=104553

[Bartwald]

Finally - the DVD from Gamma Ray!!! You know, I'm not usually too excited about heavy metal DVDs these days - there's so many of them it's just impossible to watch them all - but I was dying to finally get this one! GR is one of the very BEST live bands I've seen in action and the 2006 set was superb. Hope to be getting the 3xDVD version.

Good to hear they're starting to work on a new album, too!

[slayrrr666]

Me, for all what you said. Don't have a whole lot of band DVDs, really only pick-up ones that do more than just feature a single concert, I need more from mine in order to pick it up. And a new album should be amazing.

[slayrrr666]

Back to our old faves Edguy, we have the CD artwork:

The cover artwork for "Tinnitus Sanctus", the new album from German melodic metallers EDGUY, can be viewed below. The was recorded at Gate Studios in Wolfsburg, Germany with producer Sascha Paeth and is scheduled to be released on November 16.

In a recent interview, EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet stated about the group's new material, "We don't go back to the roots. We never denied who we are and where we come from, so I don't see a reason to go back to wherever. I go straight forward and follow my heart as I've always done, 'Tinnitus Sanctus' is exactly the music we wanna play, we are happy and I don't give a fuck if it's gonna be our biggest-selling album or not. It's so great, even if my career would go down the drain and this would be the last album, I'd be more than happy to be remembered as the guy who recorded 'Tinnitus Sanctus'. I'd rather ruin my carreer with a creative killer album like that than trying to play safe with a boring stereotype power metal stinker constructed on a drawing table. We have a couple of song titles such as 'Dragonfly', 'Dead Or Rock', 'Wake Up Dreaming Black' or 'Sex Fire Religion'. And we'll shoot a video for a very heavy midtempo anthem by the name of 'Ministry Of Saints'. And there'll be a bonus track called 'Aren't You A Little Pervert Too?' which is quite nasty."

www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=104901

[Bartwald]

What do you think of the cover, slayrrr? In opinion it's just OK, I expected something a bit crazier, more in the vein of Rocket Ride, perhaps. But anyway, it's not bad at all, waiting to hear the music now!

[slayrrr666]

I think it works in combination with the title. The first thing I thought of when I heard the title, I thought of "Caligula" which this really reminds me of. It's got a Greek sounding name, and that's a really Greek-influenced cover, so I think it works.

[slayrrr666]

Another Edguy update:

German melodic metallers EDGUY will release their new album, "Tinnitus Sanctus", on November 14 via Nuclear Blast Records. . The CD was recorded at Gate Studios in Wolfsburg, Germany with producer Sascha Paeth.

The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. Ministry Of Saints
02. Sex Fire Religion
03. The Pride Of Creation
04. Nine Lives
05. Wake Up Dreaming Black
06. Dragonfly
07. Thorn Without A Rose
08. 929
09. Speedhoven
10. Dead Or Rock
11. Aren't You A Little Pervert Too?

www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=105561