Happy Monday Radicals! Hope everyone had a prank-tastic April Fools!
Ghost is teasing the arrival of a “new” Papa Emeritus in a three-minute video clip titled “Chapter One: New Blood.” In the clip, an aged Papa Emeritus Zero is confronted by Sister Imperator, who asks about Papa’s health and congratulates him on his accomplishments. But she also acknowledges that a fresh, youthful Papa is now needed — and as the clip ends, the silhouette of the band’s “new” leader can be glimpsed arriving behind a door, bathed in red light.
The last Papa, Papa Emeritus III, was forcibly taken from the stage during the final show of the band’s Meliora tour cycle last fall, with Papa Zero arrived to announce the beginning of “the Middle Ages.” Of course, all the Papas — except the elder Zero — are the same man, Ghost founder and vocalist Tobias Forge.
Forge’s new alter ego, Papa Emeritus IV, will make his live debut on May 5th as the Swedish band kicks off a run of North American dates in Riverside, California.
The “Rats On The Road” trek, as it’s called, will be in support of the group’s fourth studio LP, which was completed earlier this year. Details on a title, first single and release date have yet to be shared.
The new Ghost album will tentatively be released in June and follows up the band’s 2015 album Meliora and the 2016 EP Popestar. Meliora was Ghost’s commercial breakthrough in the U.S. and featured the Grammy-winning hit single “Cirice.” Forge told Revolver that the upcoming set is “loosely themed around the concept of death and doom. It’s a themed album around medieval times, but it’s definitely clinging onto a lot of very current things.”
Korn frontman Jonathan Davis has released the official music video for his song “Everyone.” The video centers on a group of young people who follow a cult-like religious leader with unsettling results. Davis told us a while back that he’s always taken issue with organized religions: “I’m not one to judge. I think people — if they need Christianity, like, who am I to tell them they don’t need it? I just have a problem with what the overall big picture of it is. For me, my problem is with the overall picture, the big picture of what Christianity does and savior-based, you know, religions do. I mean, every war and every problem we have in this world’s because of that.”
The song is taken from Davis’ highly anticipated debut solo album, Black Labyrinth, which is due out May 25th. The first single from the set, “What It Is,” is currently Number 13 on the rock radio airplay chart. Davis started working on the new disc over 10 years ago, writing and recording material in between Korn albums and tour cycles since 2007.
The singer will kick off a solo North American tour on April 6th in Portland, Oregon, ending on May 18th in Boston. Korn drummer Ray Luzier will be part of the backing band.
Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo revealed in a new interview with France’s United Rock Nations Radio why the band made its new album self-titled after its last full-length LP, released in 2010, was also self-titled. DeLeo explained, “Well, we love the artwork so much and we love the songs so much that we didn’t really wanna put a name on it. It would be almost very pretentious to put something on that record, (like) New Beginning . . . We just wanted the songs (to speak for themselves) and leave it open for people to get out of it what they want it to.”
STP’s self-titled seventh studio effort was released on March 16th and is the band’s first with new singer Jeff Gutt. The group’s self-titled 2010 record featured original singer Scott Weiland, who was dismissed in 2013 and died in December 2015.
In between the two albums, STP cut the High Rise EP with singer Chester Bennington in late 2013. Bennington returned full-time to Linkin Park in late 2015 and committed suicide in July of last year. Jeff Gutt made his live debut with the band last November in Los Angeles. The band recently did its first round of dates in support of the new album and next plays on April 14th in Tucson, Arizona.
At least one AC/DC fan is against the idea of the band making a new studio album with Axl Rose on lead vocals. Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen told Boise, Idaho radio station 96.9 The Eagle that AC/DC leader Angus Young should resist the notion of recording new material with the Guns N’ Roses singer, explaining, “I’m a huge AC/DC fan, and if the whole band’s left or gone . . . Malcolm Young, (guitarist) dead, obviously. (Vocalist) Brian Johnson got kicked out. (Bassist) Cliff Williams retired and (drummer) Phil Rudd got arrested. You’ve got one person (left), so it’s not really AC/DC . . . It kind of loses its appeal. It becomes karaoke; it becomes something else, and it’s lost its integrity, really.”
Axl Rose handled vocals for AC/DC on European and North America legs of its last tour, after Johnson was forced to leave the road due to serious hearing issues. There has since been speculation that Angus would keep the group going with Axl on vocals.
Collen continued, “I wouldn’t do that, personally, if I was Angus. I thought Axl Rose (did) a great job, by the way. I thought he (did) amazing when he stood in for Brian Johnson . . . But I think as a band, if he was gonna do an album, it may sound good, but it’s not really the band anymore.”
The Rock Or Bust tour cycle did see every remaining member of the band’s classic Back In Black lineup leave the fold. Malcolm Young was forced to leave earlier due to his battle with dementia and passed away last year. Rudd’s arrest led to his dismissal before the trek started, while Williams announced his retirement at its end. While Angus has not publicly said whether or not the band will carry on, singer Angry Anderson of veteran Australian act Rose Tattoo said in a recent interview that Angus told him he was making a new LP with Axl on vocals. It is unknown whether Angus will keep the other members of the last touring lineup — including guitarist Stevie Young and drummer Chris Slade — or revamp the roster again.
Hellyeah has apparently resumed recording the follow-up to 2016’s Unden!able album. On Friday (March 30th), drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott posted a short video on Instagram of Tom Maxwell laying down a guitar track on one of the band’s new songs. Although the band was reportedly halfway through the recording in January, it was put on hold while producer Kevin Churko had to stop and work with a “higher-paying customer” — most likely Disturbed. The new Hellyeah disc is expected to be out by the summer.
That’s Dirt, have a great week!
