Author: wamdiness

Metallica‘s fourth Helping Hands Concert and Auction took place on Friday night in Los Angeles, featuring performances by Sammy Hagar, SistaStrings and Metallica themselves.

All of the proceeds from the auction and ticket sales went toward Metallica’s own All Within My Hands Foundation, which raises money for various charity partners. Once again, this year’s show was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Other guests included Slash, Tom Morello and more.

For his set, Hagar was joined by his current band lineup: Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Kenny Aronoff. Together they performed a mixture of Van Halen, Chickenfoot and Montrose songs, plus some of Hagar’s solo material.

READ MORE: How Metallica Transformed Metal With ‘Kill ‘Em All’

Metallica followed with two sets, one acoustic and one electric. They were joined at points by SistaStrings, Avi Vincour and Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam.

You can view sets lists for both acts below, as well as photos and fan-filmed videos from the concert.

Corny, But True

The All Within My Hands Foundation was formed in 2017 and has since raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for food banks, disaster relief programs and scholarships for community college students.

“As corny as that sounds, there’s not really a better feeling in this world than helping someone else and doing it without telling about it,” James Hetfield said earlier this year in an episode of The Metallica Report. “There is something fantastic about that. It goes against everything that humans are: ‘I need this. You give me that. I need to take this.’

“Especially growing up in a band that was struggling, fighting for the only towel in the motel, or whatever it is, or ‘There’s a can of food there. I better get mine or else.’ Just that sparseness mentality and having that key unlock it to be completely the opposite. Out of everything you’ve learned, despite everything I’ve learned, the corniest saying ‘It’s better to give than receive’ is so true.”

Watch Sammy Hagar Perform ‘Rock Candy’

Watch Metallica Perform ‘Low Man’s Lyric’

Watch Metallica and Jeff Ament Perform ‘Hit the Lights’

Sammy Hagar, , 12/13/24, Set List:
1. “Good Enough”
2. “Poundcake”
3. “Runaround”
4. “There’s Only One Way to Rock”
5. “5150”
6. “Rock Candy”
7. “Big Foot”
8. “Oh Yeah”
9. “Heavy Metal”
10. “I Can’t Drive 55”

Metallica, Helping Hands Concert and Auction, 12/13/24, Set List:
Acoustic
1. “Low Man’s Lyric” (with Avi Vinocur)
2. “Helpless” (Diamond Head cover with Avi Vinocur)
3. “Away From Home” (Bachman-Turner Overdrive cover)
4. “If Darkness Had a Son” (with SistaStrings)
5. “Nothing Else matters” with Sista (with SistaStrings)

Electric
1. “Orion”
2. “The Shortest Straw”
3. “Until it Sleeps”
4. “Screaming Suicide”
5. “The Unforgiven II” (with Avi Vinocur)
6. “Fuel” (with Avi Vinocur)
7. “Hit the Lights” (with Jeff Ament)
8. “Master of Puppets”

Crucial Velocity recently announced Controller, the follow-up to their self-titled 2023 album release, is forthcoming and due to drop January 10, 2025. Heavier, leaner and darker than the debut album, Controller is ready for the masses. 

They have released a music video for new single “Hollow”.

The track moves as a commentary on humanity’s failure to learn from history, opening with Georg Hegel’s timeless quote: ‘The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.’ Accompanied by a video by Wayne Joyner, known for his work with Dream Theater and Tremonti, “Hollow” showcases the band’s vision of melding dark atmospheres with hook-driven harmonies.

Crucial Velocity’s Nate Bauer explains “‘Hollow’ was written after a conversation with a friend about ideology. Ideology, in my opinion, is the root of all evil. Ideology pushes politics and religion into dangerous cult like territory. Ideology promotes thoughtless thought in that you basically surrender yourself to whatever the ideology is without feeling the need to really think about what it is you are following. People placing complete trust in the ideology and the leaders who promote them. We have seen this happen over centuries with the rise of very evil leaders or civilizations. And yet, here we are in 2024 and supposedly intelligent people are still being caught up in dangerous ideological movements. We need to get back to pragmatic thought. Deep thoughtful thought. Androo O’Hearn captured the anger in the lyrics with his death metal growls while still maintaining the melodic approach that defines the Crucial Velocity sound.”

“On the new album, Controller, we took the elements that we loved from the debut and basically magnified them. The songs are more concise and heavy yet always melodic. There is a flow and a consistency throughout. We do not shy away from our influences. We embrace the classic hard rock and metal from the 80’s and 90’s while keeping it fresh and creating a unique Crucial Velocity sound. Fans of Queensrÿche, Alice In Chains, Ghost, Black Sabbath and even prog metal will align with this album.”  – Nate Bauer

“Hollow”:

“Brainstorm”:

Crucial Velocity:
Matt Thompson (King Diamond) – Drums
Androo O’Hearn (Shaolin Death Squad) – Vocals, Keys
Michael Harris (Chastain/Harris, Darkology, solo artist) – Lead Guitar
Nate Bauer – Guitar, Bass, Keys, Songwriter

Century Media has released the remix / remaster of Sacramentum’s The Coming Of Chaos. A visualizer for “Awaken Chaos” is streaming below:

Sacramentum’s sophomore album The Coming Of Chaos, is newly remixed and remastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound (Dissection, Opeth, Marduk). The revamped version of this 1997 album comes with brand-new artwork by Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin (Dissection, Bathory, Edge Of Sanity) as well as special liner-notes by the band in the CD format, and is also available as LP on 180g vinyl and as Digital Album. 

The Coming Of Chaos is an inexorable masterpiece of Swedish melodic death/black metal, for fans of Dissection, Watain, Necrophobic, Dark Funeral or Naglfar.

Oder here.

Tracklisting:

“Dreamdeath”
“…As Obsidian”
“Awaken Chaos”
“Burning Lust”
“Abyss Of Time”
“Portal Of Blood”
“Black Destiny”
“To The Sound Of Storms”
“The Coming Of Chaos”

“Dreamdeath (Remix 2024)”:

December 13, 2024, 2 hours ago

news heavy metal rarities beast in black

Nuclear Blast will reissue Beast In Black’s Berserker album on transparent orange vinyl on February 7, 2025. Preorder at the Nuclear Blast webstore.

Berserker is Beast In Black’s full-length debut album, originally released in 2017 by Nuclear Blast. 

Berserker features the single “Blind And Frozen”, which has amassed 47 million views on YouTube.

Tracklisting:

“Beast In Black”
“Blind And Frozen”
“Blood Of A Lion”
“Born Again”
“Zodd The Immortal”
“The Fifth Angel”
“Crazy, Mad, Insane”
“Eternal Fire”
“End Of The World”
“Ghost In The Ra” 

“Blind And Frozen” video:

(Photo – Timo Isoaho)

Hailing from Nashville, TN, Framing Hanley released today their new single, “Hear Me Now Redux” through Thermal Entertainment, a reimagining of their 2007 hit, “Hear Me Now”. Stream/download the track here, and listen below.

Of the new version, Kenneth Nixon said, “It’s funny because my growing up in Nashville, TN, my first love was wrestling. I went to all the small territory promotion’s events every weekend with my great grandfather as a child. I always wanted to be a wrestler. Obviously didn’t get the build for that ha. Jeff Hardy was always one of my favorites. My brother and I pretended we were The Hardy Boyz when we’d smash each other over the head with baking sheets and do leg drops off of our couch. Fast forward 10-15 years, and I met Jeff at one of our shows. Turns out, he was a big FH fan. In the years since, our friendship grew and I worked with him and his band and helped with songwriting and production on some of their stuff. When we discussed reimagining ‘Hear Me Now’ I had the wild idea to reach out and ask if he’d like to feature on it as I knew he was a big fan of the song (it’s how he discovered our band). I couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out with his addition.”

“Hear Me Now Redux” was produced by Andrew Baylis (Jelly Roll, Sleeping With Sirens).

Framing Hanley will be announcing an April 2025 tour shortly and will be appearing at Sonic Temple at the Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, May 10.

Framing Hanley formed in 2007 and went on hiatus from 2015-2018 before reforming. They have released four albums: The Moment (2007), A Promise To Burn (2010), The Sum Of Who We Are (2014) and Envy (2020) which have sold over 200,000 albums, 1.5 million downloads and music has been streamed over 300 million times. Official music videos have surpassed 55 million views.  

Four singles have charted at radio including “Criminal” (#20 – Rock); “Lollipop” (#25 – Rock / #20 – Alternative); “You Stupid Girl” (#36 – Rock); “Collide” (#39 – Rock). They have accumulated over 50,000 spins at radio.

Italian progressive death metal band, Sadist, will release their Jugular Bell EP on December 20 via Nadir Music. It’s a limited edition box set, which is going to make all the fans of the band very happy. Inside the box, a 5-track Jewel Box CD, Band sticker, wool hat, and band patch.

While waiting for the release of the Sadist Christmas box set, you can find the official video for the title track below.

The Jugular Bells EP will anticipate the release of the band’s new album, which is scheduled for spring 2025 via Agonia Records. The tracks on the mini-CD will not be included on the full-length album.

Tracklisting:

“Jugular Bells”
“Let It Burn”
“Christmas Beat”
“Tubular Bells”
“You Are A Mean One, Mr Grinch”

“Jugular Bells” video:

Since slashing his way into horror movie lover’s hearts in 1980’s Friday the 13th, Jason Voorhees has killed somewhere between 163 and 20,000 people in his 12 big-screen adventures.

It’s a journey that has seen the hockey mask-wearing machete enthusiast mow down van after van full of horny drunk teenagers, cross blades with Freddy Krueger and travel to New York City, outer space and hell itself. Here are the best, scariest or funniest stories behind all 12 Friday the 13th movies.

Friday the 13th (1980)

Released on May 9, 1980, the first Friday the 13th was an unabashed attempt to duplicate the holiday-themed horror success of 1978’s Halloween. The movie was a giant success, earning nearly $60 million against a budget of less than $600,000, but film critics hated it. Gene Siskel, in particular, actively tried to sabotage the film’s success by openly breaking the generally accepted rules of newspaper reviews in rather amazing ways:

Read More: How Gene Siskel Tried to Sabotage the Original ‘Friday the 13th’

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Naturally, the big box office success of Friday the 13th guaranteed a sequel would be made as quickly as possible, with Part 2 arriving less than a year later. You may remember that Jason Voorhees wasn’t the killer in the first movie, and he almost wasn’t in the second either. Sean S. Cunningham, the producer and director of the first movie, planned to tell a completely different story with different characters the second time around. But the studio stepped in:

Read More: How Jason Almost Wasn’t the Villain in ‘Friday the 13th Part 2’

Friday the 13th Part 3 (1981)

Although Part 2 only made about one-third of what its predecessor did, that was still about 20 times what it cost to make, so sure enough the 3-D sequel Part 3 arrived the following year. Even with the arrival of Jason’s iconic hockey mask (he wore a burlap sack in Part 2), the formula was starting to wear thin. Changing shooting locales to an artificial, studio-set lake and prioritizing the 3-D effects over actual performances also took their toll:

Read More: How Jason Took a Big Wrong Turn With ‘Friday the 13th Part 3’

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Jason Voorhees was well-established as an all-time movie bad guy by the time the fourth (and supposedly last, ha!) entry in the Friday the 13th series arrived in 1984. But the actor behind the hockey mask proved to be a noble hero when one of his co-stars was allegedly put in a dangerous situation by the filmmakers:

Read More: How Jason Saved the Girl in ‘Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter’

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

Although the Friday the 13th movies remained highly profitable, some of the actors hired for 1985’s A New Beginning said they were surprised – and even disappointed – to learn the movie they had successfully auditioned for was not entitled Repetition, but instead was the fifth movie in the horror franchise:

Read More: How Actors Were Tricked Into Starring in a ‘Friday the 13th’ Movie

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

Fans didn’t react particularly well to the twist of a “fake” Jason being responsible for all the murders in A New Beginning, so 1986’s Jason Lives not only brought the main man back in a glorious “lightning meets grave” sequence, it continued to hit all the right notes and delivered a classic monster movie that very well might be the best in the series:

Read More: Why ‘Friday the 13th Part VI’ is the Best Jason Movie Ever

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

The seventh Friday the 13th movie – in just eight years! – attempted to spice up the formula by giving one of Jason’s typically helpless victims the power to fight back. Enter Tina, a young woman with initially unrealized telekinetic powers quite similar to Stephen King’s Carrie:

Read More: When Jason Met Carrie in ‘Friday the 13th Part VII’

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

OK, here’s where things really go off the rails. For the first of what would be three ill-fated trips away from his normal Crystal Lake killing grounds, Jason boards a cruise ship for New York City. Alas, budget constrictions murdered director Rob Hedden’s grandiose plans before filming ever began, and Jason only spends about one-third of the movie in the Big Apple. “It’s not ‘Jason Takes Manhattan,’ it’s ‘Jason Takes a Cruise Ship,” he later admitted:

Read More: How ‘Friday the 13th’ Wasted Jason’s Trip to New York City

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

When is a Jason movie not a Jason movie? When the main attraction is blown to bits seven minutes in, and doesn’t re-emerge until five minutes before the credits roll. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday instead finds the evil spirit of Jason jumping from one civilian body to the next, in one of the most disjointed and unsatisfying entries in the series. But the final scene does offer a hint at a legendary horror crossover:

Read More: Why ‘Jason Goes to Hell’ Was ‘A Disaster’

Jason X (2001)

After trips to hell and New York City, where else is a mass-murderer to go? Into outer space and the distant future, if Jason X is to be believed. Our villain gets an extremely corny-looking cybernetic upgrade in a movie so great the studio let it sit on the shelf for two years before releasing it:

Read More: How Jason Got Stranded in Space

Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)

16 years after the idea was first attempted, and after 18 script drafts were written at a reported cost of $6 million, Jason went up against A Nightmare on Elm Street star Freddy Krueger in one of the most anticipated horror movie crossovers in recent history. Luckily, it was worth both the time and the money:

Read More: Why ‘Freddy Vs. Jason’ Was Worth a 16-Year Wait

Friday the 13th (2009)

Nearly thirty years after his debut, Jason’s story got its first ever reboot. 2009’s Friday the 13th works a bit like a re-recorded greatest hits album, played on fast forward. The movie condenses elements from the first three series in the franchise, for example showing Jason move from innocent child to burlap sack-wearing killer to hockey mask-wearing icon in one fell swoop. Also, he’s a lot smarter, faster and seemingly even more sadistic now:

Read More: ‘Friday the 13th’ Reboot Makes Both Jason and His Story Faster

With the hatchet finally buried, Art Garfunkel has opened up about his long standing feud with Paul Simon.

The famed folk rock duo have a tumultuous history, having broken up and reconciled several times during their career. The most recent discourse was sparked in 2015 when Garfunkel called his former bandmate a “jerk”, an “idiot” and a “monster” during an interview with U.K. outlet the Telegraph. While it certainly wasn’t the first time the musicians had traded barbs, it seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for their relationship. However, earlier this year the duo was able to end “years of estrangement with a lot of sweet candor,” as Garfunkel recalled during a recent interview with NME.

“Paul’s ex-wife, Peggy Simon, had moved into the place where I live, and their son, Harper, ran into me in the halls. I knew this was going to happen sooner or later,” Garfunkel explained of how the reconciliation came together. “Harper set up a lunch with Paul and I.”

READ MORE: Rock Feuds: Paul Simon vs. Art Garfunkel

The two old collaborators laid everything out on the table, leading Garfunkel to admit his own motives.

“Paul said to me, ‘Arty, it’s not that you spoke to the British press and that you didn’t do it well. I know you said you wanted to put spice into the image of Simon and Garfunkel. I know you felt that we were too conservative,’” the singer recalled. “Well, my idea of spice meant a certain candor that must have hurt Paul’s feelings. I realized; I did hurt his feelings.”

“He said, ‘I felt you wanted to hurt me. That’s what got me,’” Garfunkel continued. “And I thought, ‘That’s true’. I wanted to hurt him. The next thing I knew, I burst into tears.”

Reconciliation Was a ‘Wonderful Moment for Simon & Garfunkel’

Garfunkel further examined the emotion of the moment, noting how it felt to reconnect with his longtime friend.

“The admission of the truth is psychological. You give it up and admit that you wanted to hurt somebody,” he explained. “You’re touched by your own confession. And then there were hugs. It was a wonderful moment for Simon & Garfunkel. It basically ended the years of detachment.”

READ MORE: Top 10 Simon & Garfunkel Songs

The singer also revealed the foundation of the duo’s unique relationship.

“Paul’s very funny. The basis of the Simon & Garfunkel relationship is laughter and jokes – even more than music,” Garfunkel noted. “We’re both Lenny Bruce fans. We love Mike Nichols and Elaine May. We love Mel Brooks. Right from the beginning, we laughed all the time, and it was the source of our connection.”

Garfunkel’s new album, Father and Son, is out now.

Rock’s Greatest Duos

Elton John is still upset about the amount of hurt he caused while using drugs from the mid-’70s until 1990.

His longtime co-writer, lyricist Bernie Taupin, could only look on in horror as John’s downward spiral sabotaged their creative partnership. They were left making music he admitted was “not the best.”

Thankfully, John recovered following a stint in rehab – but not before having a particularly mortifying experience. “It was the most embarrassing thing in my life when I went into treatment that I couldn’t work a washing machine,” John, 77, tells Time magazine, which named John their icon of the year.

READ MORE: The Story of Elton John’s 1975 Suicide Attempt

“I thought, ‘Fuck. Here you are at 43 years of age, and you can’t work a washing machine. That shows you how you’re fucked up.’”

He added: “You make terrible decisions on drugs. I wanted love so badly, I’d just take hostages. I’d see someone I liked and spend three or four months together, and then they would resent me because they had nothing in their life apart from me. It really upsets me, thinking back on how many people I probably hurt.”

Taupin also dealt with his own addiction issues after seeing how bad John had become. “I was terrified for him,” he admitted. “It was absolutely horrible.

“A lot of the work that we did in the times when he was at his worst wasn’t the best of both of us. I wasn’t able to creatively invest any time in writing material that related to him until he actually found himself, and then it was easier for me to reflect upon it.”

Bernie Taupin On What People Missed About Elton John

“What people didn’t realize in the ’70s and ’80s and ’90s, but I think they realize now, is that he’s one of the best fucking piano players on the planet,” Taupin argued. “There are a lot of people that have great catalogs and great songs, but I don’t think anybody of our peers has songs that are so varied.”

Taupin also noted: “Do you know how many requests I get a day for the use of our songs on things like America’s Got Talent, The Voice or the silly show where they dress up as poodles?

“I don’t think Bob Dylan gets a lot of requests [from] The Masked Singer.”

Odd Couples: Alice in Chains and Elton John

German folk musician Patty Gurdy has released a new single, “I Am With You”, featuring former Nightwish bassist / vocalist Marko Hietala. She has shared behind-the-scenes footage from the video shoot, wghich took place over one day in Helsinki, Finland.

“I Am With You” is taken from Patty’s new album, Tavern, which is available to order here.

Renowned Finnish vocalist, bassist, and songwriter, Marko Hietala, has unveiled details of his forthcoming solo album, Roses From The Deep, set to be released on February 7 via Nuclear Blast. This marks Hietala’s first major project since his critically acclaimed Pyre Of the Black Heart captivated fans worldwide in 2020.

Roses From The Deep promises to deliver a unique blend of dark, introspective lyricism and soaring, cinematic soundscapes. Drawing inspiration from myth, nature, and the human experience, Hietala has crafted an album that transcends genres, with elements of progressive rock, folk, and symphonic metal seamlessly intertwined.

Roses From The Deep represents a journey into the hidden layers of our emotions and the beauty we often overlook in darker times. It’s an album about fragility, resilience, and finding light even in the depths of shadow.

The album’s latest single, “Impatient Zero”, arrives with a visually stunning music video. Listen to the single here, and watch the video below.

Featuring a stomping, groovy beat and a grand, anthemic chorus, the track is set to captivate listeners and perfectly set the tone for the rest of Roses From The Deep.

“Impatient Zero”  follows the huge success of the album’s first two singles. “Left On Mars”, a haunting duet with Tarja Turunen, quickly became a fan favorite, showcasing the vocal chemistry between the two icons. The second single, “Frankenstein’s Wife”, with its dark storytelling and intricate composition, further heightened anticipation for Marko Hietala’s upcoming release. Together, these tracks have cemented Roses From The Deep as one of the most eagerly awaited albums of 2025.

Marko Hietala comments about “Impatient Zero”: “It’s about a battle for being under a continuous assault of inner monsters. And the awful truth, that in this reality, people get to see those monsters, too, instead of the real face.”

The album will be released in following formats:

– CD Jewelcase
– 2 LP gatefold, oxblood red

Pre-order here.

CD tracklisting:

“Frankenstein’s Wife”
“Left On Mars”
“Proud Whore”
“Two Soldiers”
“Dragon Must Die”
“The Devil You Know”
“Rebel Of The North”
“Impatient Zero”
“Tammikuu”
“Roses From The Deep”

LP tracklisting:

“Frankenstein’s Wife”
“Left On Mars”
“Proud Whore”
“Two Soldiers”
“Dragon Must Die”
“The Devil You Know”
“Rebel Of The North”
“Impatient Zero”
“Tammikuu”
“Roses From The Deep”
“Impatient Zero” (Edit)
“Frankenstein’s Wife” (Live at Utrecht 2024)
“Left On Mars” (Live at Utrecht 2024)

“Frankenstein’s Wife” video:

“Left On Mars” video: