Author: uylrjp

Annihilator mastermind, Jeff Waters, is celebrating 25 years of sobriety. Waters shared the video below, along with the following message:

“25 YEARS SOBER. Loved every year of it and highly recommend it, if you so choose! Not easy for some of us to quit, but was worth the early struggles…  and what an amazing life without it! ❤️ Happy New Year. Be happy & safe!!” ❤️

Back in May, Metal Department released Amerikan Kaos’ Armageddon Boogie, the debut solo release by Jeff Waters. What you get here is pure hard rock, with some killer melodic hooks, making this a refreshing throwback to better days, but with a modern twist. Armageddon Boogie is the first part of a trilogy, with part 2 coming in 2025 and part 3 in 2026.

Armageddon Boogie is available via digital platforms. It is also available in CD and limited edition vinyl LP formats here.

Tracklist:

“My Little Devil”
“The Pasadena Four”
“Roll On Down The Highway”
“Wait For Me (In Heaven)”
“Nobody”
“Armageddon Boogie”
“Pull The Wool”
“Our Love Song”
“Make Believe”
“Let It Go”

In the video below from AXS TV, KISS singer/bassist, Gene Simmons, talks to Dan Rather about how the greatest moment in his life was when he moved to America, and how he thinks that people who are born in the US don’t appreciate it as much as they should.

The Gene Simmons Band will be touring in the US in April and May, 2025. Tour dates can be found below, and tickets are available via genesimmons.com.

2025 tour dates:

April
5 – The Event at Graton Resort & Casino – Rohnert Park, CA
25 – Ruth Eckerd Hall – Clearwater, FL
26 – Miami Beach, FL – Fillmore
28 – The Moon – Tallahassee, FL 
29 – Florida Theater – Jacksonville, FL
30 – Hard Rock Live – Orlando, FL 

May
3 – Beaver Dam Amphitheater – Beaver Dam, KY
5 – Basie – Red Bank, NJ
6 – Wellmont – Montclair, NJ
8 – Wind Creek Casino – Bethlehem, PA
9 – The Paramount – Huntington, NY
15 – Fallsview Casino – Niagara Falls, ON
20 – Brown County Music Center – Nashville, IN
22 – House Of Blues – Dallas, TX
23 – Tobin Center – San Antonio, TX
24 – House Of Blues – Houston, TX

Angus and Malcolm Young were the driving forces behind AC/DC from their formation in 1973 to Malcolm’s death in 2017. In this classic interview from 2003, the brothers look back on their stellar career, from unlikely early gigs to their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame by “a bunch of fucking penguins”.

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A sea of mullets, denim jackets and carrier bags containing vinyl albums washes around outside the doors of Berlin’s plush Four Seasons Hotel. AC/DC are here in Germany to play three shows with the Rolling Stones, having jammed together in Australia last year.

Last night they warmed with up a headline show at the city’s 3,000-capacity Columbiahalle – as intimate a setting as you’re likely to get for a band who have sold 85 million albums in the US alone during the past three decades. With the latest wave of their back catalogue about to be reissued, and having been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame back in March, AC/DC were more than happy to interrupt the writing of a new studio album in order to play the shows.

Their Hall Of Fame induction was followed by an acclaimed show at New York’s Roseland Ballroom, at which Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler had joined them on stage for a rousing You Shook Me All Night Long. Given how good AC/DC’s Columbiahalle concert was, it appears that the group’s advancing years doesn’t yet seem to pose a threat to the group’s impressive longevity.

Indeed, it was reported that police in Essen received numerous complaints of excessive volume when the band played with the Stones – even though they were playing in Oberhausen, several miles away.

The fifth highest certified band in music history in terms of record sales, AC/DC are still the subject of more than their fair share of conjecture. Several days after Classic Rock visited them in Germany, the band’s booking agent was denying an internet rumour that Angus had died. Thankfully the guitarist was unmistakably still very much in the land of the living in Berlin as he slurped a bowl of soup. His equally diminutive brother Malcolm seemed happier to do much of the talking on this occasion.

When a band like AC/DC plays shows supporting the Rolling Stones, who calls who to make it happen?

Malcolm: We’d gone home to Sydney for last Christmas and they were coming in to play. Everyone was calling us for tickets…

Angus: It’s strange when you’re in a rock’n’roll band, people sometimes think you’re a home box office.

Malcolm: On the day of the gig, we got a call from their production manager telling us that Keith [Richards] really wanted to meet Angus. We ummed and ahed, and eventually decided to go down there for an hour just to check out what was going on.

Angus: We’re not snobs or nothing, it’s just that being the Rolling Stones we knew there’d be lots of cameras; we don’t like all that media hoo-hah.

You ended up jamming with the Stones that night, so what happened when you got to the venue?

Malcolm: Keith came straight out to see us, and we all got on. Then somebody said: “Did you bring your guitars?” The next thing we knew we were up there with them. Then they called us to ask if we wanted to do this. We were doing nothing except writing, and we thought it would probably do us good to get back onto a stage.

I know the Stones charge a lot of money for people to come to see them, which we’re not into, but we’re here as a bonus. The tickets were already on sale before we were announced.

What kind of a show are they allowing you to put on – can you use your famous bell and cannons?

Angus: We’ve got an hour and a half. We can squeeze a few of the gadgets in, but we’d have done it without them if necessary. It’s a great show that the kids will remember for a long time.

Malcolm: As far as being a real rock’n’roll band, there’s only two of us out there. It’s a good show. I don’t know about the [ticket] cost, but it’ll certainly be fun.

Is there any element of competition between the two bands?

Angus: Nah, we’ve never been that sort of a band, and we’ve always had our own niche. They do their rock’n’roll show, we do ours.

Certainly the Rolling Stones are a legendary band, but don’t you want to remind them that AC/DC are, too?

Malcolm: Maybe, I suppose. But the main thing is that we’ve also got a lot in common. If we’re having a party, we won’t be sticking on an AC/DC record, it’ll be the Stones, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, that kinda bag.

Does gigging with the Stones give you encouragement that AC/DC can still be doing this when you reach the Stones’ age?

Malcolm: We’re not far off it now, mate. But I think we could be making music when we’re as old as them. From the beginning, this band has always gone for the throat. It was an energy thing. And it still is.

Angus: The gimmick’s always been me out there in the schoolboy suit, so people’d remember. Club owners in America might not have recalled the band, but they’d never go forgetting the little kid in the shorts and satchel – the one who behaved like a lunatic.

Malcolm: Some of ’em thought Angus was queer, especially in England in the early days. Then when he bared his ass… [laughs].

Angus: In Aussie you could do that in the pub and nobody gave a shit.

Do you think you’ll still be wearing the shorts on stage when you’re Keith’s age?

Angus: I guess I’ll have to. These days, when I see them my legs just look like two fucking bowling pins. I’m not trying to compare myself to Elvis, and I never saw him live, but if I had done I’d have wanted to remember him being young and wearing one of his rock’n’roll outfits.

I read that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame tried to prevent you from wearing your shorts at the induction?

Angus: They tried to make us all wear fucking tuxedos. Fuck that.

Malcolm: When we got there it was like playing in front of a bunch of fucking penguins in a restaurant. The guys from The Clash were up before us, and The Edge of U2 got up to introduce them. Fuck, he made this 40-minute speech [about late Clash guitarist Joe Strummer].

He was the most boring bloke I’ve ever had the misfortune to witness. We were at the side [of the stage], waiting, and getting madder and madder, even though we had sympathy [for the rest of the Clash]. So when they said to go, we fuckin’ took off. It was an anger-fuelled performance. We ripped the place apart. They were dancing up in the balconies in their tuxes. It was quite a moment for us. The rest of the bands were pretty mild by comparison.

Mark Evans, who was AC/DC’s bass player in the 70s, very publicly expressed his anger at being dropped from the list of inductees. Did you have any sympathy for him?

Malcolm: Not really, no.

Why? Because he left the band such a long time ago?

Malcolm: We all helped to get the band to where they are, and to get what we wanted. He was there [pause]… but wasn’t there.

Angus: I don’t see what all that shit was about. People say he was our original bassist. No he fucking wasn’t. The first guy we had was called Rob Bailey. Some nights Mal even played bass.

Malcolm: We had about four bass players [before Evans]. Mark actually got picked by our manager. We never wanted him, we didn’t think he could play properly. We could all hold our own, and so could Rob Bailey. What we thought was that when we’d kicked on a bit more we could override the manager and get in a good bass player. We had Simon Wright [former Dio drummer] in the band for longer than Mark Evans.

We’re also here to discuss the AC/DC back catalogue reissues. Are you happy with the job that your new label Epic have done with them?

Malcolm: Yeah. They’ve sorted out the packaging and everything. The other lot [long-time label Atlantic] had become a bit too complacent. They probably figured we’d always be around; we’d been with them for over 20 years. We finally decided we’d have to pull the plug because a lot of kids complained about the quality of the packaging.

Sound-wise the reissues are better than ever.

Malcolm: Yeah, they really got the welly up. The needle sits on the red all the way through now. The kids can save on batteries now!

You’ve always maintained that your recording sessions didn’t generate out-takes. When Columbia revised the Judas Priest catalogue, in the absence of unreleased studio material they at least used vintage live tracks as bonus material where appropriate.

Malcolm: We just didn’t wanna do that. We work on 12 songs at a time – that’s the album.

Angus: And we’ve never been a singles band, so we couldn’t exactly go putting the B-sides on there. Who remembers the Top fucking 40? I couldn’t remember a fuckin’ tune from them times… Maybe In The Navy [by the Village People], but that’s it.

Malcolm: The way we’ve always worked, especially on the early albums, was to write songs to fill the live set, not the album. If we knew we needed four or five fast songs to please the punters, we wrote them for the stage, not to put onto the next record. That’s the way we still work.

Yet despite all this repackaging, the track Crabsody In Blue is still missing from Let There Be Rock, and Powerage continues exclude Cold Hearted Man.

Malcolm: Is that right? That’s the first I’ve heard of it.

Absolutely. Those tracks are on the old vinyl albums, but they’re missing from the supposedly definitive CD editions.

Malcolm:There’s been a lot of confusion in the past as to what came out in Australia, America and in Europe. Some albums were missing certain tracks. But I know we laid everything out for [Epic] – spot-on for them. We made it clear that [the versions for each territory] should all be the same. If that’s not the case we’ll get it sorted out.

You mentioned earlier that you’re writing for an album. A lot of AC/DC fans have been getting excited that the name Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange – producer of the Highway To Hell, Back In Black and For Those About To Rock albums – seems to be in the frame again.

Angus: Sorry to disappoint you, but we haven’t made any of those type of decisions yet. It’s way too early.

What sort of time frame are you working to?

Angus [dismissively]: Ah, we’ll know when it’s ready. Sometimes you’re lucky and the ideas come quick, and sometimes they don’t.

Malcolm: It’s good to get one good one, because that sets the standard and gets things moving.

How many ideas like that do you think you have in hand already?

Malcolm [sighing deeply]: We haven’t even started to go through them yet. There’s so many.

Angus: Believe you me, the good ones will stand out. Me an’ him bounce things off each other once we’ve got a whole pile of ideas. Sometimes we have thousands of ideas – just a guitar riff or something – but the gems shine out. You don’t always use ’em right away, either.

Even a track like Back In Black, Mal had the riff for that one for a long time before we did anything with it. We’d toured all through Highway To Hell but it took us all that time to sit down and bounce things around. Then one day it was: ‘Oh, shit. There’s that fucking old riff.’

Are you saying that you nearly forgot to write the song Back In Black?

Angus: Well, not exactly forgot, but we did put it to the side and worked on something else. It was only a riff back then, not a fucking tune. But it had something about it.

When do you get your best ideas for songs?

Angus: You can guarantee it’ll be when you’ve got no fucking guitar, or a tape recorder. You’ll be walking down the fucking road and bingo, something’ll go off in your head. Or you’ll get up for a piss and it’ll happen then. That keeps you awake all night, because you can’t get back to sleep. It’s happened to me. The trigger can be something somebody says to you, a chord on the guitar or just about anything. It can even be a fucking drum.

People say we make the same album over and over again, but there’s some clever things in our songs that haven’t been picked up on to this day. Listen to the guitar at the beginning of Who Made Who, for instance, and you’ll recognise that it’s actually truck horns. Y’see, there is thought and subtlety that goes into it.

Does the carping of the critics still irritate you?

Malcolm: No. They’re the irritation, not what they write. If you can’t loosen up, get your shirt off and enjoy a band like AC/DC… well, we don’t make records for those fucking stiffs.

Angus: In my dealings with them they don’t fucking want to talk about the music, it’s all about the art or the statement you’re supposedly trying to make. These days it’s fucking worse – it’s all about the grooming and looks.

Okay, I still wear the school uniform out there, but my first thought isn’t how I’m going to [duck]-walk across the stage, it’s: ‘Is my guitar in tune?’ And then when you’re happy you get a spring to your step.

AC/DC are still one of the loudest bands I’ve ever seen. Is there a reason for that?

Angus [grinning broadly]: To keep you awake. Yes, but even a volume fiend like Ted Nugent doesn’t play at the volume he once did.

Malcolm: We’re not going to fall into that trap of old age. We can’t get up there and play things like Highway To Hell, For Those About To Rock and The Jack quietly. You gotta stay young.

Angus: The intention is not to deafen anyone… but you can’t be fucking timid about these things. This might make you laugh. In our earlier days we were touring South Australia, and during the daytime we once did a gig for a school of deaf children. They sat at the front of the stage, put their ears to the ground and soaked up the vibration. And they fuckin’ loved it, even the youngest ones.

Okay, from the sublime to the ridiculous…

Angus: That’s us! And we admit it.

What can you tell us about Brian Johnson’s much rumoured collaboration with the Sarasota Ballet of Florida on a new version of Helen Of Troy? I read that Malcolm McDowell [Clockwork Orange] had agreed to play the role of Zeus, but that there was some kind of problem with the funding.

Malcolm [laughing]: I know fuck-all about it, mate.

So you guys were as surprised as everyone else to learn about it?

Malcolm: Yeah. I read it in the paper and thought, what the fuck’s this? It sounded like he’d got pissed in the pub one night and agreed to do it. You’d have to ask Brian about it.

Angus [raising an eyebrow]: But the ballet dancers sound good.

Have you seen any bands that you reckon might one day succeed AC/DC when you decide to call it a day?

Malcolm: I tend to like things on a one-off basis. You might hear something that’s great and then wait for the next thing the band does, but they disappear. Time is the ultimate test. I haven’t seen anything with a good act – like we’ve got with Angus and Brian, and used to have with Bon [Scott]. And look at the Stones, with Jagger. The problem is that there’s a serious lack of showmanship. You need a good tight act, with a star out at the front. There’s not a lot of those around.

What’s the strangest rumour you’ve heard about yourselves?

Angus: It’s not particularly strange, but the one we hear most often is that the band have split up. That one seems to come up between each tour. And somebody once tried to say that we had poisoned Bon.

Malcolm: The most annoying one is with Brian and the lyrics to Back In Black. [It has been alleged that it was Scott, and not Johnson, who wrote the words to some of that album’s biggest songs before he died]. That’s complete bollocks. Poor old Brian’s had to deal with that one for the past 20 years. It just won’t go away.

At your gig last night I was handed a flyer for a Berlin show by Dave Evans; no relation to Mark Evans], AC/DC’s original singer, and his backing group, the German tribute band Overdose. Are you still in contact with Dave?

Angus [sounding slightly irritated]: How many bands has he fuckin’ got?

Malcolm: Every time we go back to Australia there’s something in the local paper about, ‘I made the band AC/DC into what they are’ [cackles dryly]. The day we fuckin’ got rid of him, that’s the day the band started. How we got rid of him is quite a good story. We were playing at this pub in Melbourne.

Dave was almost like Gary Glitter in the gear he’d insist on wearing. It was ridiculous. All these hard-nosed, beer-drinking Aussies were after him, so we told him to go for a walk for ten minutes and we’d play a boogie number. But it went on for half an hour and the place was rockin’. After that we realised that we didn’t need a singer.

Angus: No, we realised we didn’t need that singer! Actually, to call him a singer is being a bit polite.

It’s interesting to hear you tell the story that way, because according to some versions Dave left the band due to being stage-struck, and Bon Scott, at that time the band’s chauffeur, was quick to fill the gap.

Malcolm: Nah, that’s bullshit. Bon was driving us around at the time, and he was forever telling us to get rid of our singer because he was crap. He kept saying that he would love a crack at it himself – this was when he was oiled. One day we mentioned it to him but he wasn’t keen any more. So he went back to painting ships. We get to Melbourne, and the phone rings and it’s [in slurred, belligerent tones]: “Mal, I’m on me fuckin’ way. I’m sick of painting ships.”

Evans had been screwing this chick that the drummer at the time fancied, so he woke him up at five in the morning and smashed Dave in the face. Gave him a fucking good beating, he did. The next day Dave came to us to complain and we told him: “You haven’t got a job any more.” But it was Bon that called the shots on that one. He said: “I want in.”

Speaking of Bon, do you ever think he might be looking down – or up! – at what AC/DC have achieved after he died?

Malcolm [smiling wryly]: To be honest, if there is anything in the after-life, he’ll probably be saying, “C’mon, guys. Play that one fucking faster. Put some fucking grunt into it.” That’s what he was like. Bon wasn’t one for compliments, but he’d always be funny about it.

But surely he would be proud of the band’s accomplishments?

Angus: Well, don’t forget that things were going pretty well for us at the time of Highway To Hell anyway. But the biggest kick that Bon seemed to get – and he often remarked on it – was that he could be himself. He’d been a drummer in rock’n’roll bands since the age of 15, then he realised that the singers got all the chicks and became a singer.

When he joined us his first words were: “How do you want me to fuckin’ sing, guys?” We told him to do whatever he fuckin’ wanted. And he was finally able to follow his own path.

Malcolm: He had years of lyrics that his previous bands wouldn’t let him use. He could knock up a set of lyrics for a song overnight – with the help of a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. You’d read ’em and go: “That’s fuckin’ eloquent, Bon.”

Angus: If you asked him about his lyrics he’d always just say it was toilet poetry. But he was gifted, believe me. He’d write things like Downpayment Blues – owning a Cadillac but not being able to afford the gasoline. Nobody’s doing that shit any more. You just don’t hear it.

Malcolm: And this from a guy who’d until then had been painting ships. When he joined us he took us by the scruff of the neck. On stage it’d be: “Don’t just stand there, you cunt.” So whatever AC/DC went on to achieve, Bon was also very responsible for.

Originally published in Classic Rock issue 57, August 2003

Originally from Mexico City, Johnny Nasty Boots is a rising guitar star currently based in Los Angeles. Johnny blends psych rock, blues, and the tasty rock ‘n’ roll sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s, bringing them current through a torrent of blistering six-string fury.

Johnny’s debut, Johnny Nasty Boots, can be found via Bandcamp. It features bristling cuts like “Hard to Love Me,” “I’m Cursed,” “Bulltoad Blues,” and “Jump and Shout.” The album’s eleven tracks are a frenzied if not varied affair—much like the music that’s influenced Johnny throughout his life.

To that end, Johnny Nasty Boots beamed in with ClassicRockHistory.com to offer up the ten albums that changed his life. Can you spot any of your favorites, too?

Gorillaz by Gorillaz (2001)

Everything started here! I remember watching TV, and suddenly, the “19/2000” music video started playing. I wasn’t sure what I just watched, but it definitely got stuck in my head like glue. It wasn’t until I watched “Clint Eastwood” when I got completely hooked, I bought the album, and it was decided: I wanted to learn how to play bass and become a musician.

Big Ones by Aerosmith (1994)

Aerosmith was the first rock band that I got into. I first discovered them because they were featured in the Spider-Man movie soundtrack performing the “Spider-Man theme.” I was obsessed with the song, and I had to discover everything about the band. I thought that getting a greatest hits album was the best way, “Eat the Rich” and “Rag Doll” were my favorite tunes around that time! I used to listen to this album every day, all day!

How the West Was Won by Led Zeppelin (2003)

One thing led to another, and Aerosmith was the bridge that led me to Led Zeppelin! Very quickly, they became my favorite band, and luckily for me, just in time for their newest release since Coda. This live album has everything a rock ‘n’ roll band has to have: the musicianship, all the band members shined here, and their iconic live versions blew me away! I decided to switch from bass to guitar after listening to this album; thanks, Jimmy!

Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones (1971)

This is, in my opinion, a perfect album. The moment the needle hits the groove, the magic begins! It literally has everything. One thing that I love is that it features very different guitar players; the solo of “Sway” is one of the most amazing guitar works by Mick Taylor, and the slide guitar of Keith Richards during “You Gotta Move” made me want to go deep into the delta blues, and Ry Cooder shining bright in “Dead Flowers”! I got the inspiration for my stage name “Johnny Nasty Boots” from the song “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” after hearing Mick Jagger sing, “Yeah, you got plastic boots.”

Horehound by The Dead Weather (2009)

My story with Jack White is interesting; when I first watched the video for “Seven Nation Army,” it grabbed my attention, but I didn’t think it was legit. At that time, I was mostly interested in classic bands and hopeless about new bands that were doing authentic rock ‘n’ roll. I was already disappointed with bands like Kings of Leon and The Strokes, so I thought the White Stripes were going to be more of the same, but I was wrong!

Jack White’s work started to grow on me, slowly and consistently, and it finally was consolidated with this masterpiece—an authentic piece of raw rock and roll that inspired me to learn how to record music with that vintage vibe. I have always felt that if you close your eyes, you can feel like the band is playing all together in the same room you are, a feeling that I always try to print on my own recordings.

Abbey Road by The Beatles (1969)

I never got into the Beatles until I heard [Paul] McCartney’s work on “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” That song changed my whole perspective about the band, and my love for them was sealed; how could it not be if this is one of the best albums ever? This piece of art showed me what a concept album is about. The way the songs flow into each other, how a song could end abruptly just to create an emotion and keep your attention on the edge, three guitars having a conversation, and a hidden song taught me that an album is more than a collection of songs.

The Power to Believe by King Crimson (2003)

My ears weren’t prepared for what I was about to hear during my first encounter with King Crimson. I was very young at that time, and I hadn’t heard anything like it. The heaviness, the dissonance, the polyrhythms, and the harmonies were just perfection to me. A whole new world of possibilities opened up after hearing them; it was as if all the jazz and classical masters were still alive, and instead of playing with acoustic instruments, they were doing their thing with electric guitars.

Hot Rats by Frank Zappa (1969)

I love Frank Zappa as a whole, but my favorite version of him is when he grabs the guitar and shreds along his always brilliant lineup of musicians like “Jean-Luc Ponty” or “Captain Beefheart.” Long jams, exotic scales and that voice changed my life for good!

Them Crooked Vultures by Them Crooked Vultures (2009)

This album has been inspiring me since it came out. To me, it is the perfect mix between the mainstream and the deep cuts that I sometimes felt were made to only be understood by other musicians, and I love that. The album represents how a modern rock band has to sound- without fear, doing whatever they want—and I worship that.

Morrison Hotel by The Doors (1970)

Jim Morrison’s lyrics have always been part of my life. Since I fell in love with the band, I used to read all the lyrics (even without the music) from their entire catalog. With this album in particular, I feel that the way he’s telling the stories in the songs is from a more personal perspective; almost like every word he sings is based on a true story, even if he’s telling a metaphor. That style of songwriting is so fascinating and inspiring to my own works.

’10 Albums That Changed My Life’ Interview Directory

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Johnny Nasty Boots: 10 Albums That Changed My Life article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2025

In 1994, BraveWords & Bloody Knuckles magazine was born and here we stand 30 years later celebrating the past 12 months of music on our anniversary! What an incredible ride it has been and it’s far from over! And during the past three decades, we’ve literally seen/heard thousands of releases and this is the time of the season when we crown the finest! The BraveWords scribes have spoken, so join us each day this month as we count down to the BravePick of 2024!

Remember, everybody has an opinion and it’s time for ours! Stay tuned at the end of December for BraveWords’ writers’ individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), What/Who Needs To Stop In 2024? and Metal Predictions For 2025. 

BravePicks 2024

2) BRUCE DICKINSON – The Mandrake Project (BMG)

 

Good things come to those who wait. The wait seemed to last an eternity with Bruce Dickinson tied to his Iron Maiden duties, however the resurrection of his solo career finally occurred at the beginning of March with The Mandrake Project. 

More than just an album, it is also tied to a comic book written by Bruce. Ever the creative individual and storyteller, The Mandrake Project is everything a Bruce fan could ask for – a powerful concoction of his previous solo works The Chemical Wedding and Tyranny Of Souls. It’s a diverse showcase of talents, traditional heavy metal, Deep Purple-inspired rock, shadowy ballads, epic works, and a chilling conclusion. 

A breathtaking achievement, The Mandrake Project hits #2!

Scribe Nick Balazs rated The Mandrake Project a 9.0, proclaiming the album is “another example why he is one of the best of all-time.” An excerpt of his review:

The Mandrake Project is a logical progression and mixture of Chemical Wedding and Tyranny Of Souls with notes of his early material. It’s thundering heavy metal with some rockier moments and an overhead of nebulous darkness and mysticism. Some songs hit right away, like the robust opener and first single “Afterglow Of Ragnarok” with its unusual chorus and the brilliant follow-up in the Deep Purple-ish “Many Doors To Hell” – one of the best songs he’s ever written. “Mistress Of Mercy” possesses a feel akin to “Road To Hell” plus a main riff reminiscent of Velvet Revolver’s hit “Slither”. Second single “Rain On The Graves” is like a beefed up track from the Balls To Picasso-era and fits much better in the context of the album and while its chorus is simple and repetitive; it’s a definite earworm.

Others take more to sink in like “Resurrection Men” with a western type feel and a chorus with a rockier outlook that could have fit on Skunkworks. The song takes a turn in the middle section with a classic Black Sabbath groove with Bruce crushing it vocally. Second last tune “Shadow Of The Gods” is definitely William Blake inspired and broods with gloomy basslines as Bruce paints picture of a complicated world before exploding into electric guitars at the 4 minute mark with aggressive vocals; the softer concluding section harkens back to “Chemical Wedding” in its rhythm and vocals. These two songs are expertly crafted and grow upon each listen.

BravePicks 2024 Top 30

2) BRUCE DICKINSON – The Mandrake Project (BMG)
3) FLOTSAM AND JETSAM – I Am The Weapon (AFM)
4) CRYPT SERMON – The Stygian Rose (Dark Descent)
5) KERRY KING – From Hell I Rise (Reigning Phoenix)
6) BORKNAGAR – Fall (Century Media)
7) SEBASTIAN BACH – Child Within The Man (Reigning Phoenix)
8) GRAND MAGUS – Sunraven (Nuclear Blast)
9) IOTUNN – Kinship (Metal Blade)
10) NILE – The Underworld Awaits Us All
11) EVERGREY – Theories Of Emptiness (Napalm)
12) THE CROWN – Crown Of Thorns (Metal Blade)
13) NECROPHOBIC – In The Twilight Grey (Century Media)
14) DJEVEL – Natt Til Ende (Aftermath)
15) INTRANCED – Muerte y Metal (High Roller)
16) KITTIE – Fire (Sumerian)
17) BLACKTOP MOJO – Pollen (Cuhmon Music Group) 18) BLOOD RED THRONE – Nonagon (Soulseller)
19) RIOT V – Mean Streets
20) PORTRAIT – The Host 
21) ROTTING CHRIST – Pro Xristou (Season Of Mist)
22)SAXON – Hell, Fire And Damnation (Silver Lining)
23) ULCERATE – Cutting The Throat Of God (Debemur Morti Productions)
24) POWERWOLF – Wake Up The Wicked (Napalm)
25) ENSIFERUM – Winter Storm (Metal Blade)
26) OPETH – The Last Will And Testament (Reigning Phoenix Music)
27) DARK TRANQUILLITY – Endtime Signals (Century Media)
28) MORGUL BLADE – Heavy Metal Wraiths (No Remorse)
29) THE DEAD DAISIES – Light ‘Em Up (Independent)
30) MÖRK GRYNING – Fasornas Tid (Season Of Mist)

Trivium frontman Matt Heafy, who updates his official YouTube channel regularly, has shared a guitar playthrough clip for “Silence In The Snow”. Check it out below.

Trvium and Bullet For My Valentine recently announced The Poisoned Ascendancy UK / European Tour 2025. Both bands will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut albums by playing them in full.

Tour dates are as follows:

January 
26 – Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena 
27 – Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena
28 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
30 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live 
31 – Birmingham, UK –  Utilita Arena  

February 
1 – London, UK – The O2
2 – Düsseldorf, Germany – Mitsubishi Electric Hall
4 – Stuttgart, Germany – Scheleyer-Hall
5 – Zurich, Switzerlamnd –  The Hall
7 – Paris, France – Le Zenith
9 – Antwerp, belgium – Lotto Arena
10 – Hannover, Germany – Swiss Life Hall
11 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live
13 – Hamburg, Germany – Sporthalle
14 – Berlin, Germany – Max-Schmeling-Halle
15 – Frankfurt, Germany – Jahrhunderthalle
17 – Milan, Italy – Alcatraz
18 – Munich, Germany – Zenith
19 – Vienna, Austria – Stadthalle
21 – Gliwice, Poland – Arena
22 – Prague, Czech Republic – Forum Karlin
23 – Luxembourg – Rockhal
26 – Lisbon., Portugal – Campo Pequeno
27 – Madrid, Spain – Vistalegre

King Crimson founder Robert Fripp and his wife, Toyah Willcox, have closed off 2024 by revisiting last year’s performance of the KISS classic, “Lick It Up”.

KISS legend Gene Simmons joined Michael Franzese for an unforgettable conversation about his journey from surviving adversity to becoming a global icon with the legendary band. In the clip below, Gene opens up about his mother’s incredible story of surviving WWII Germany and how her resilience shaped his life and career. They dive into KISS’ meteoric rise to fame, the origins of their signature face paint and look, and the secrets behind their enduring success. Gene also shares insights into his early life, music influences, and his transition to becoming a successful businessman. 

Following is an excerpt from the chat, with Simmons recalling the band’s first foray in full make-up.

Simmons: “Between that first application of the makeup to about three weeks later, I called up a local club, the Coventry, and convinced them to book us sight unseen or anything else for 35 bucks. And I remember there may have been 10 or 15 people there; my girlfriend at the time, a girl named Jan, her brother’s girlfriend, Lydia, the drummer’s (Peter Criss) wife, and a few others. And that was it. But we were on stage in makeup, getting off. There was something going on. And within a year and a half of the band forming, end of 1973, we were headlining Anaheim Stadium, before MTV, before digital. We didn’t even have hit records. Something happened. It just pervaded culture. All of a sudden, young kids started talking about this. And in those days you could make a career from magazines because that’s how things spread before.”

“In a very strange way, KISS became a very big band without hit songs. It was about the live shows. And if people are curious, if you go to YouTube, we would literally blow away any act that dared put us on stage. We’d just blow them off the stage. Some of it was smart. We had a KISS logo that was about six or seven feet tall; these bright lights that spelled out KISS. And nobody hung their name above them like a Las Vegas show. That was not considered cool, but we thought it was cool. So that when the next band came on after we were off, a half hour later, if you closed your eyes, you could still see KISS in your eyelids, if you know what I mean. They didn’t have enough time to clear the stage. So while they were on, the KISS logo was still on stage. And very quickly, we ran out of bands to open up for.”