UPDATED TOP 12 RELEASES FOR 2012
Feb. 28th:
UFO – SEVEN DEADLY
British rock legends UFO will release their new album, “Seven Deadly”, on February 28, 2012 (one day earlier internationally) via SPV/Steamhammer. The effort, which was recorded with producer Tommy Newton at his Area 51 studio in Celle, Germany, will be made available as a limited-edition digipack (including two bonus tracks), a double gatefold LP with printed innersleeves and colored vinyl, standard-edition CD and as a digital download.
“Seven Deadly” track listing:
01. Fight Night
02. Wonderland
03. Mojo Town
04. Angel Station
05. Year Of The Gun
06. The Last Stone Rider
07. Steal Yourself
08. Burn Your House Down
09. The Fear
10. Waving Good Bye
11. Other Men’s Wives (bonus track)
12. Bag O’ Blues (bonus track)
According to a press release, “Seven Deadly” is “an atmospherically dense fabric consisting of classy guitars, tight rock grooves and vocals which are unique to UFO. The classic rock of ‘Burn Your House Down’ features all the important UFO strengths, ‘Going Down To Mojotown’ sees the musicians sound tougher than ever, and last but not least, ‘Wonderland’ features a pointed reference to UFO‘s early days. ‘Angel Station’ sees the band prove how classic rock music is complemented perfectly with epic elements, while ‘Fight Night’ is an excellent track to be performed in a live context.”
UFO‘s latest best-of collection, “Best Of A Decade”, was released in North America on September 28, 2010 via SPV/Steamhammer.
The band’s most recent studio album, “The Visitor”, came out in June 2009.
The current lineup continues to consist of the three original members, Phil Mogg (vocals), Paul Raymond (guitar, keyboards), and Andy Parker (drums), as well as American world-class guitarist Vinnie Moore.
Pictured below at Area 51 studios in Celle, Germany (from left to right): Peter Knorn (manager, UFO), Tommy Newton (sound engineer), Olly Hahn (A&R, Steamhammer), Phil Mogg (singer, UFO)
For those of you uninitiated in the prowess of UFO, here is your free introductory licking!
FEB. 28TH:
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY – CORROSION OF CONFORMITY
Due on February 28 in North America via Candlelight Records, the CD was recorded at Dave Grohl‘s Studio 606 in Northridge, California and was produced by the band in cooperation with longtime collaborator John Custer. It was mixed by John Lousteau (FOO FIGHTERS) and features artwork by Seldon Hunt (MELVINS, HIGH ON FIRE).
“Corrosion Of Conformity” will be available on standard CD, deluxe digipak, and two exclusive vinyl formats.
Featuring the esteemed “Animosity” lineup of vocalist/bassist Mike Dean, guitarist Woody Weatherman, and drummer/vocalist Reed Mullin, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY‘s album closes a six-year recording gap and completes over a year of concentrated writing and recording for the band.
“Corrosion Of Conformity” track listing:
01. Psychic Vampire
02. River Of Stone
03. Leeches
04. El Lamento De Las Cabras
05. Your Tomorrow
06. The Doom
07. The Moneychangers
08. Come Not Here
09. What We Become
10. Rat City
11. Time Of Trials
12. Canyon Man (deluxe/vinyl only)
13. The Same Way (deluxe/vinyl only)
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY recently completed a video for the song “The Moneychangers” with director Charles Cardello.
Mullin co-founded CORROSION OF CONFORMITY in 1982 as a hardcore punk act alongside Weatherman and Dean before leaving the band in 2001 amidst health concerns.
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY‘s latest album, “In the Arms of God”, came out in 2005 on Sanctuary Records. The group’s first collection of new material since 2000’s “America’s Volume Dealer” was produced by C.O.C.‘s longtime collaborator John Custer.
APRIL 16TH:
DRAGONFORCE – THE POWER WITHIN
British epic power metallers DRAGONFORCE will release their fifth studio album, “The Power Within”, in the U.K. on April 16 via the band’s own Electric Generation Recordings, distributed by Essential Music. The ten-track monster, which will be made available in North America on April 17 through Roadrunner, is the band’s first with new singer Marc Hudson in the fold.
Commented DRAGONFORCE guitarist Herman Li: “The last two years have been the most fun we ever had making an album. Through writing, jamming and touring together, we have built this incredible energy and it has been fully captured on the new album.
“This time around we’ve really brought our metal side to the surface and made some of the best music of our career. From the fastest song we’ve ever recorded [‘Fallen World’] to the slower songs, and some things you would never expect from us, this is by far the most diverse DRAGONFORCE album yet.”
Li added, “This is an exciting new era for DRAGONFORCE with Marc joining the band, so we figured this was an ideal time to take full control of our own destiny and establish our own record label for Europe. It’s all hands on deck running it, but a great buzz!”
“The Power Within” track listing:
01. Holding On
02. Fallen World
03. Cry Thunder
04. Give Me The Night
05. Wings of Liberty
06. Seasons
07. Heart Of The Storm
08. Die By The Sword
09. Last Man Stands
10. Seasons (acoustic version)
There will also be a digital and vinyl version featuring bonus tracks “Cry Thunder (Live Rehearsal)”, “Heart of the Storm (Alternative Chorus Version)” and “Avant La Tempête (Instrumental)”, plus an exclusive box set featuring:
* CD Version
* Access Code for Bonus Material plus
* DRAGONFORCE Flag,
* DF Flashlight/Bottle Opener,
* Set of 6 DF Beer Mats featuring band cartoons by bassist Frédéric Leclercq.
A small number of very lucky fans will have their first chance to hear new songs from the album at an exclusive sold-out show at London, England’s 100 Club on February 16.
Performance footage of the new DRAGONFORCE songs “Fallen World” and “Cry Thunder”, recorded on October 21, 2011 in New York City can be seen below.
After entries from thousands of hopefuls across the globe, DRAGONFORCE in March 2011 welcomed Hudson to the band to fill the boots left by ZP Theart, who parted ways with the group in March 2010.
Born in Oxford England, Marc was picked from the thousands of applications via a number of impressive video auditions and live performances, which left the rest of the band in no doubt that they’d found their man. Since the age of 16, Marc has been building his vocal skills gigging with bands in the U.K. underground scene, developing a powerful style with influences which include Bruce Dickinson, Michael Kiske and Sebastian Bach.
Kaaos TV conducted an interview with Li and Hudson during the the Spinefeast At Sea cruise, which which set sail on January 19 aboard the Tallink Baltic Princess from Helsinki, Finland and returned the following day. You can now watch the chat below.
MAY:
RUSH – CLOCKWORK ANGELS
MAY 22nd:
SLASH – APOCALYPTIC LOVE
Slash — the iconic, Grammy-winning rock guitarist and songwriter — is currently in a Los Angeles studio putting the finishing touches on his second solo album. Entitled “Apocalyptic Love”, the disc is due out May 22 on Slash’s own label Dik Hayd International distributed through EMI and will follow his 2010 debut album, “Slash”, and his November 2011 first-ever live solo album, the two-CD/DVD set “Made In Stoke 24/7/11”. Notably, the “Slash” album debuted on The Billboard 200 chart at #3 (#1 on the Rock chart, #1 on the Independent chart, and #1 on the Hard Music chart). Digitally, the album also became the #1 overall digital album and hit #1 on iTunes in 13 countries. Internationally, the disc achieved Top 5 chart positions in over a dozen major territories, hitting #1 in both Japan and New Zealand.
In the U.K., the album will be released on May 21 in exclusive Classic Rock Fan Pack form — providing a unique collectable package containing the studio album with bonus tracks alongside a specially created magazine with unseen behind-the-scenes content put together by Classic Rock. The Fan Pack format will also come with free gifts, including a pin badge and artwork poster and will be available to buy via more than 2000 retail outlets on newsstands nationally as well as the traditional high street and online music retailers. Roadrunner Records will simultaneously release the record digitally. The standard physical release of the Slash album will follow through Roadrunner Records on June 18.
For the new album, Slash — along with and his bandmates Myles Kennedy (vocals), Brent Fitz (drums) and Todd Kerns (bass) — teamed with producer Eric Valentine, who also produced the “Slash” disc. All the songs were written together by Slash and Kennedy, and cameras have been rolling throughout the entire making of the album.
A question-and-answer session with Slash about the new album follows below.
Q: Looking at all your Twitter updates, you sound really pumped about the new disc. This time around, you and Myles wrote all the songs and he sings lead on all the tracks. What inspired this scenario since your debut solo album featured multiple vocalists (including Myles on two songs)?
Slash: Well, having Myles sing on the first record inspired me to take him on the road, then taking him on the road inspired me to have him sing on the whole record. So yeah, the tour last year definitely inspired the decision for him to sing on the new record. He has a really broad range. He is just very musical as far as his melodic style is concerned and he’s also very lyrical and just a really powerful singer. There’s a lot of positives about the way he sings.
Q: Perhaps you want to talk a bit here about your other bandmates and what they each bring to the sound?
Slash: There’s Brent who is probably one of the best drummers I’ve ever played with — he has a great way of playing very powerful rock n roll while still being able to keep it behind the beat and sexy. And then Todd has got to be one of the most overall talented musicians I’ve worked with, just a really great bass player. Todd’s very quick in the studio, a quick learner and creative as a writer; on top of that, he’s also a great singer.
Q: Beyond you and Myles writing all the songs and Myles singing all the leads, in what other ways is the new album perhaps different from your debut solo album?
Slash: Myles and I basically collaborated on the new material. The main thing is we wrote these songs together which is a big difference from the last album where I wrote each song with all of the different collaborators. The whole creative nucleus is between Myles and me. On top of this, the whole rhythm section of Brent and Todd brings something to the table and changes the dynamic completely from the last record — it’s much more cohesive.
Q: With your record company Dik Hayd Records, you remain an independent artist and work with major companies for distribution. Can you talk about how you as an artist benefit by this scenario in these interesting times for the music industry?
Slash: It puts me more in the driver’s seat of how I want to market the record, but even more importantly than that, I’m not giving half of everything that comes in on the album to the record company.
Q: Eric Valentine returns as producer for the new disc. What do you feel he brings as a producer to these songs and the overall approach?
Slash: The first thing we always talk about with Eric is he’s an extremely gifted musician, but he is basically as talented an engineer, so it makes for a great combination as a producer. As a person he’s easy to work with — he’s very patient and he lives and breathes what he does. That’s a lot like how I am, we’re similar; I can call him at any moment and ask him a question or share an idea I have with him. He’s always in his element and it’s something that I can appreciate.
Q: You toured the world seven times with the last album. What are your tour plans for the new album?
Slash: Right now we’re starting off with radio shows in the states and then we’ll do as much of Europe as possible. We’ll also tour in Asia and Australia, and try to hit South Africa this year as well as India and a couple other spots. Trying to just broaden our horizons a bit.
Slash earlier in the week unveiled the details of a headlining U.S. tour that will kick off on May 3 in Baltimore. The road trip will also includes stops at major festivals like Rock On The Range and Rocklahoma.
This Saturday (February 18), Slash will join Stevie Wonder, Chris Cornell, Lenny Kravitz, LL Cool J, Common, Snoop Dogg, former President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Anthony Hopkins and more at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for a 70th birthday celebration to honor boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
Proceeds from the event will go toward awareness and prevention of numerous neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s diseases, with funds also going to the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
MAY 22:
THE CULT – CHOICE OF WEAPON
Legendary rock band THE CULT has set “Choice Of Weapon” as the title of its long-awaited ninth album, due on May 22 via Cooking Vinyl Records. The group’s first full-length work in five years (though the band has kept active by putting out “capsules” of new songs and live recordings in recent years) was co-produced by Chris Goss (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, U.N.K.L.E. ) and longtime collaborator Bob Rock (METALLICA, AEROSMITH).
“Choice Of Weapon” was made in several studios, including the band’s own Witch Mountain as well as spots in New York City, Los Angeles and the California desert.
A new THE CULT song entitled “Lucifer” can be streamed at RollingStone.com.
Regarding the recording process for the new album, THE CULT frontman Ian Astbury tells RollingStone.com, “We began with Chris Goss, who is a very close friend and somebody I’ve been friends with for over 20 years. And we always talked about doing a CULT record together. Chris did all the refinement, helping us find the material, craft it, and I think we’ve been at it for quite a while. It just became attrition. Everyone was getting kind of exhausted. Kind of wearing each other out in the studio.”
On the topic of the “Choice Of Weapon” album cover, Astbury said, “This image has been with me for many years, since I was about 11 years old. I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario. I immigrated there when I was a kid. I was exposed to Native American culture very early on. And that kind of piqued my interest in indigenous cultures. It had a quite profound effect on me. With this particular image, it had been hovering around me for quite a while. And it’s almost like I had to manifest this image within myself. I wanted to have an image that in some way reflected the sentiment of not only the record, of the deepest sentiment of the record, but also the sentiment of what’s going on in society. I mean, the fact that the shaman figure has a veiled face, there’s a face mask pulled over, it’s almost reminiscent of images we’ve seen from Libya and Egypt and also from things like the Occupy movement or the riots we had in the U.K.”
He continued, “The title of the record reflects the fact that here we are, we have a choice to make right now. We can choose different modalities. We can either choose literal weapons, which, many people have picked up weapons in Libya, Egypt, Syria. Or picking up weapons and overtaking systems, physically, by force. In a more metaphorical sense, a weapon can be a camera, a weapon can be a pen, a weapon can be a statement, a verbal statement, a weapon can be an article of clothing. Tantric weapons are symbols they use in tantric rituals, like the dorje, which is an object that the shamanic figure is actually holding. The dorje being representative of a thunderbolt enlightenment, that moment of awakening, where you go, ‘Aha!’
“Time magazine said this year the Person of the Year was the demonstrator, the image of the woman with the veil. So this is an icon that we’re seeing more and more in our culture. It’s almost like people don’t want to come out and show their faces and say something. Because they’re almost afraid of . . . I don’t know. There’s a lot of intellectual bullying going on. People are very quick to jump on someone if they say something that’s maybe different. They’re certainly not part of the status quo, of a moving force. Everyone’s kind of pointing at it, but nobody’s really saying it, what really needs to be said. So in some ways, this shamanic figure, the look in the eyes is almost like a wild animal, which I connect to nature.”
Read the entire interview at RollingStone.com.
THE CULT is Ian Astbury (vocals), Billy Duffy (guitar), Chris Wyse (bass), John Tempesta (drums) and Mike Dimkich (rhythm guitar).
TOOL – (TITLE and RELEASE DATE UNDETERMINED)
AEROSMITH – (TITLE UNDETERMINED) Possible release date: May 2012
KISS – MONSTER (RELEASE DATE UNDETERMINED)
BLACK SABBATH – (TITLE and RELEASE DATE UNDETERMINED)
SOUNDGARDEN – (TITLE and RELEASE DATE UNRELEASED)
SLAYER – (RELEASE DATE AND TITLE UNDETERMINED)
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