Woo! There’s no better way to kick off your Friday than piles of new music! Here’s some fresh DIRT for ya!
BREAKING BENJAMIN have released their highly-anticipated sixth studio album, EMBER, available for streaming HERE and purchase HERE. The self-produced EMBER has already spun off a #1 rock radio track, “Red Cold River,” and is the follow-up to BREAKING BENJAMIN’s 2015 #1 album, Dark Before Dawn.
Today also marks the release of the music video for “Torn in Two” (see above) the second chapter in a trilogy chronicling the living hell a father goes through when his daughter is murdered and what he will endure to save her soul. The cinematic and intense imagery pulls inspiration from the epic poem, Dante’s Inferno and for diehard fans, hints of past BREAKING BENJAMIN videos.
Additionally, BREAKING BENJAMIN have partnered with Prevent Child Abuse America donating $0.25 from each ticket sold to their summer co-headline tour with Five Finger Death Punch to the organization. As April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, founder/frontman Ben Burnley had this to say about their choice in partnering with this organization:
Frontman Ben Burnley says “I have always had a soft spot for children, especially being a father myself. We do a lot of work with St. Jude Children’s Hospital and love helping there where we can. Since April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we wanted to do something to bring awareness to that as well as encourage others to do their part in helping the innocent voices of the future. We’re pleased to be donating .25 cents of each ticket on our Summer tour to the country’s biggest foundation for child abuse awareness, ‘Prevent Child Abuse America’ so they may continue their journey to put an end to it.”
Ghost has officially announced a June 1st release date for its new album, titled Prequelle. In addition, the Swedish group has unveiled a music video for “Rats,” the first single from the upcoming disc, which debuted on Thursday night, April 12th. The clip gives viewers the first proper look at frontman Tobias Forge‘s latest incarnation, Cardinal Copia, who for the moment has replaced the Papa Emeritus line.
A number of pre-order packages for Prequelle have been launched, and among the items available are Ghost-themed masks similar to those worn by plague doctors back in the 17th century. Forge has hinted that the theme of the album has to do in part with the arrival of the Black Plague in Europe, among other events in history. Ghost will kick off a run of North American dates on May 5th in Riverside, California.
Alice In Chains is putting the finishing touches on its sixth full-length studio album and now the band is finally starting to speak out about it. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell told Guitar World about the upcoming LP, “It’s not that we were keeping it a secret — we just didn’t want to say a whole lot about it until we had something to say. And we certainly have something to say with this one. It’s a f**king strong record.”
Asked about its musical direction, Cantrell offered, “It’s a record we haven’t done yet, I can tell you that. But it’s also a record that has all the elements of anything you would expect from us. It’s got our fingerprint. And we’re really proud of the material that we wrote and the performances we captured. There’s some really heavy s**t, some really ugly stuff, some real beautiful stuff, some weirdo trippy s**t . . . it’s good!”
Addressing the five-year gap between 2013’s The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here and the new release, Cantrell said, “It’s a lot of work doing a record and I think it gets harder the older we get. But we just wait until we’re ready and until we have enough material that’s up to the Alice In Chains standard, and then we do what we do.”
The new disc was recorded in part at Henson Studios in Los Angeles, with the basic tracks laid down at Studio X in Seattle. This marked the first time the band had recorded in its hometown in more than 20 years. Alice In Chains will kick off a North American tour on April 28th in Boston, finishing up the first leg on May 19th in Philadelphia. After hitting Europe and Israel, the band will return for a second leg starting on August 22nd in Vancouver and coming to a close on September 15th.
Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has lifted the curtain on a debut three-song EP from his new side project, The Longshot, after teasing the band earlier this week on social media. The songs included on the EP are called “Taxi Driver,” “Love Is For Losers” and “Chasing A Ghost,” with all three finding Armstrong working in familiar punk rock territory while adding a layer of pop sheen to the music.
Armstrong hasn’t revealed any other information about the Longshot yet, including who else is in the band. An Instagram account for the project was created in February, with a recent post saying that its first album would be called Love Is for Losers. A release date has yet to be announced.
The Instagram page has been filled with photos and videos, with one post saying, “Love is for losers . . . Fans are encouraged to show unity by getting a broken heart tattoo if they are, of course, a loser. It’s rumored that VIP access may be granted to those that attend a show as a Lone Ranger.”
Armstrong has participated in several side projects throughout his career, including Pinhead Gunpowder, the Network and Foxboro Hot Tubs, the last two of which was essentially Green Day under different names. In 2013, he partnered with Norah Jones for an album, Foreverly, in which they reinterpreted the Everly Brothers‘ Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. Green Day released its last album, Revolution Radio, in 2016.
Tool and A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan said in an interview with Matt Pinfield that musicians needed to be much more prepared when they went in the studio years ago than they do now. Keenan explained, “Back in the day, those guys did their homework. Going back to old classic rock tracks, listening to the old Queen isolated tracks — they did their homework because you have to understand the medium. The art and your approach to the art shifts basically over time according to the medium and whatever’s forgiving in the medium.”
Keenan continued, “So back in the day when you had those 24 tracks of tape, there was no flying this vocal in from over there to get to that. You had to get it right. So before you even walked into the studio to spend $2,000-3,000 a day to be there, you rehearsed the crap out of it so that you can get it right the first time, so you’re not wasting money and wasting time. These guys were already pros.”
He added, “Now it’s like, I just kind of wake up and roll out of bed and regurgitate it on the tape and have somebody fix it, if not completely replace it.” A Perfect Circle’s first studio album in 14 years, Eat The Elephant, is due for release on April 20th. Keenan’s main band, Tool, is in the midst of recording its first new LP since 2006’s 10,000 Days. The album is expected out later this year. Keenan will be touring with both Tool and A Perfect Circle throughout the rest of 2018.
Godsmack has released an audio stream of the title track to its new album, When Legends Rise. The band’s seventh studio LP is due out April 27th and the first single, “Bulletproof,” is already Number Four on the rock radio airplay chart. Godsmack will hit several music festivals this spring and summer, before launching a tour with Shinedown on July 22nd in Clarkston, Michigan.
Finally, we’d like to wish a happy birthday to Aaron Lewis of Staind, and Marc Ford of the Black Crows! Have an excellent day everyone!
