German Rock Icons Scorpions Retiring For Good!

After rocking the world like a hurricane for a staggering 45 years, German rock legends Scorpions have finally decided to call it quits. That is, after they complete their tour to support their upcoming album release "Sting In The Tail".

The band is currently recording their 17th studio album in Hanover, Germany, and is set to be released in an undisclosed date early this year.

The band went through several ups and downs after being in the music industry ever since founding rhythm/lead guitarist Rudolf Schenker started the band in 1965. Being in a group for THAT long is a minority in this business where it isn't common to see bands immediately go separate ways after only a few years.

What surprises me is that while a lot of their contemporaries continue to rock out (Aerosmith) or form reunion tours (Van Halen), the Scorpions goes completely the opposite direction with this move. They won’t be having problems financially, as the band has amazingly sold over 75 million albums worldwide!

I hope the group would make their final album a memorable one. In retrospect, I do feel a bit disheartened that the creators of music I listened to when I was growing up will throw in the towel finally. In the end though, after dishing out rock hit after another for more than four decades, the rock icons deserve this break.

Photo source: Wikipedia.org

Aerosmith Set To Replace Steven Tyler?

When I read the news about Aerosmith holding auditions to find a replacement for longtime vocalist Steven Tyler, I was both saddened and relieved at the same time.

The feeling of relief came after the realization that Joe Perry and the gang are still quite serious in continuing to dish out rock n' roll madness, as what they've been doing for the past 4 decades. However, this situation can only be added to the number of recognizable rock bands that replaced their prominent vocalists. It's a hit and miss kind of scenario.

I was saddened by the fact that, Steven Tyler might not be able to recover from this current setback, although I'm still rooting for him to do so.

The only band that I thought really successfully made this transition is AC/DC.

After the venerable Bon Scott passed away and left the Aussie rock juggernaut temporarily reeling from the loss, replacement Brian Johnson came and owned the screamer spot bigtime. The millions of records sold by the band fully attests to the extent of Brian's success as AC/DC's replacement vox.

Other than AC/DC, I really can't think of any other band that made it as good as they did.

Let's just hope that Tyler does recover to reclaim his rightful place in the band's line-up.

Here the video of Steven Tyler falling off the stage, sustaining injuries that caused the group to cancel several shows and look for Tyler's, hopefully temporary, replacement.

Wanna Hear The New Single "C-lebrity" from Queen + Paul Rodgers?

Queen + Paul Rodgers will be releasing their first collaboration with the upcoming album entitled "The Cosmos Rocks". The legendary group's highly anticipated work is set to reach the stores in the EU and the UK on 15th September and to the US and Canada on October 14th.

It's a general concensus that no one could ever replace the great Freddie Mercury. But really I feel that Paul Rodgers, who's a great vocalist in his own right, really meshes well with Brian May and Roger Taylor. For me, this is a different group altogether. They're still carrying the band name though, despite the fact that original members Brian and Roger represents just half of what the group used to be, with John Deacon retiring already. Nevertheless, with Brian May still manning the lead guitar spot, the band has more than enough juice to rock on until the next century or so!

For a preview of what to expect from the supergroup, here's a video of their rockin' new single "C-lebrity" shown in official Queen youtube site! Enjoy!

Metallica Announces Release Date For "Death Magnetic"!

Finally, 5 years after the release of their previous album "St. Anger", Metallica will be releasing their ninth album entitled "Death Magnetic", which will be available this coming September 12, 2008!

I'm one of them old-school Metallica fans that loved all their 4 albums in the 80's, namely: "Ride The Lightning" (1983), "Kill 'Em All" (1984), "Master Of Puppets" (1986, in my opinion, their best ever!) and "...And Justice For All" (1988). I didn't really took much notice of them in the 90's. However, I'm still feeling that excitement as the date approaches and find myself looking forward to hearing the songs in the album.

There's a video I've seen in youtube showing the photo shoot of their upcoming single "The Day That Never Comes", a song which is shown in an Iraq War setting. This is what Lars Ulrich told MTV News about it:

It’s a story about human beings who don’t know each other, in a particularly tense situation. It could be a contemporary war setting, but it’s really about forgiveness and redemption and understanding what goes on in people’s minds. We really feel that this was such a beautiful and epic way to treat the song in something that was really radically different than the specificity of the lyrics.

I hope that the guys will remain true to the spirit of Metallica and make this album as kickass as possible. If they do, then it's going to be quite a treat!

Stone Gods To Release Debut Album "Silver Spoons and Broken Bones"

The Stone Gods, a new band formed from the ashes of defunct British rock goup The Darkness, is set to release their debut album on July 7, 2008. The album will be called "Silver Spoons and Broken Bones".

The group is composed of Richie Edwards (vocals/guitar), Dan Hawkins (lead guitar), Toby MacFarlaine (bass) and Ed Grahams (drums).

The Stone Gods have been quite busy since last year to record the new album and started promoting their new songs at the start of 2008:

"On February 25, 2008 an EP called "Burn the Witch" was released. It contained two tracks from the upcoming debut album and two non-album b-sides. According to the official Stone Gods website, the EP sold out within one day. It also reached #2 in the Radio 1 Rock charts.

On April 9, 2008, Stone Gods announced that the first single of the new album will be 'Knight Of The Living Dead' and was released on 23th June 2008.

On May 25, 2008, the band released 3 songs exclusively on iTunes. These songs, which will be on the album are 'Knight Of The Living Dead', 'Making it Hard' and 'Defend Or Die'.

On June 10, 2008, Stone Gods were supposed to start their 'Knight of the Living Death' tour in Liverpool, but due to health problems with Ed Graham, three dates were postponed. In order to continue the tour, Ed Graham is temporarily replaced by ex-Bush drummer Robin Goodridge."

I watched "Burn the Witch" and "You Brought A Knife To A Gunfight" in Youtube, and I gotta say, this lineup with Richie Edwards sounds way better (kick-ass is more like it!) for me than the falsettoes of ex-Darkness vocals Justin Hawkins, although I have to admit that I did enjoy "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" for a while. I hope they continue what they're doing, it's good to keep the flames of rock alive and burning.

Here's "You Brought A Knife To A Gunfight" from Stone Gods...


(Info taken from Wikipedia.org)

Van Halen Wraps Up Successful Tour

As the final date of the humongous Van Halen Tour ended last June 2, 2008, it was revealed that this was the most commercially lucrative tour for the band. Lucrative… in the tune of US$93 million! This is according to the band’s official website, Van-Halen.com.

What could possibly be even better for the band than having Eddie sober enough to play as prodigiously as he does? Van Halen followers know how bad his condition was during previous tours as a result of his severe alcoholism. But since he got better, possibly from regular rehab, so did his guitar playing. Another plus for the fans was that this was the first time in more than 20 years that David Lee Roth toured with Van Halen. I'm sure those who were alienated from the band when Sammy Hagar came embraced this welcome change.

I feel bad, though, for original bassist and longtime VH companion Mike Anthony. Now, he could only watch, after years of touring together with the Van Halen brothers. He was replaced by Eddie’s teenage son Wolfgang who seemed to have sufficiently filled the shoes left by Anthony.

There’s nothing like playing your own songs and getting big bucks for it. That’s why if I were Eddie, I’d keep my self sober and keep on rocking until I keel over and die.

Photo: Van-Halen.com

AC/DC To Release New Album This Year!

According to the band’s website, ACDC.com, the veteran rock group is set to release a new album later this year:

“The waiting is almost over! AC/DC fans can expect the band's next album of new material sometime later this year. The band are currently recording in Vancouver with producer Brendan O'Brien and long time audio engineer Mike Fraser. This will be the band's first collection of new material since the release of Stiff Upper Lip in 2000.”

This is good news for loyal AC/DC fans all over the world. It’s been 8 years since their last album release that included new songs, so it’s about time! Man! This is longest time ever that the legendary band had in between albums. We can’t really blame them though. With the success they attained all these years, they can afford to lie low a little bit, and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Photo: Wikipedia.org