Author: Editorial Team

Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition held its world premiere on Tuesday night (May 5) at Cineworld Leicester Square in London. Red-carpet interviews with fans and band members were conducted by Vanessa Warwick, the former host of MTV‘s Headbangers Ball. Pro-shot footage from the event can be seen below.

Iron Maiden‘s official documentary begins a limited theatrical run on May 7. The film traces the band’s five-decade career using unprecedented access to their official archives and is directed by Malcolm Venville (Churchill At War) and produced by Dominic Freeman (Spirits In The Forest: A Depeche Mode Film). Alongside the band, the documentary features on-camera contributions from actor Javier Bardem, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, Public Enemy‘s Chuck D, Kiss‘s Gene Simmons, and others.

Key art was created by Spanish illustrator Alberto “Akirant” Quirantes, who previously designed Iron Maiden‘s 50th-anniversary commemorative coin for the Royal Mint in 2025.

In an interview with Australia’s Heavy, singer Bruce Dickinson explained the band’s deliberate decision to stay out of the editorial process: “When we knew there was going to be a documentary, the first thing was that we really didn’t want to be involved in it in terms of editorial or whatever. You have to have a hands-off approach because you want somebody to look at it and tell the story. Obviously, there are so many… this documentary could be ten hours long, but then everybody would lose the will to live. [Laughs] So you’ve got to make the story concise. There are going to be fans who say, ‘Oh, they missed out this and what about that’ — yeah, sure, but for people who don’t know the story of Iron Maiden, this is a great introduction to the band.”

Dickinson continued: “Because of that, we wanted an external take on our career, and you can’t really be fiddling about with that and going in every five minutes saying ‘change this’ or ‘I don’t like that’, ‘Oh, my hair looks messy in that picture.’ None of that crap. We’re not a bunch of poodles. It is a bit warts and all, but I think that’s great. There’s nothing in there that I would want to change.”

During an April 13 appearance on SiriusXM‘s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, bassist Steve Harris was asked why now was the right time to tell the Maiden story on film. Harris said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Well, in actual fact, it wasn’t us. It’s about us, but not by us. That’s the difference. So it’s a documentary, which they came to us with an idea that they wanted to do, and it changed a little bit from the original idea. They were gonna do it more about the fans, and it still is, to a certain degree. So, yeah, it’s not by us. They wanted to use our artwork and everything, and it seems as if it’s our documentary. It’s not. I think they really should have put out that it’s a documentary about Iron Maiden, not by Iron Maiden, because it’s not us. We didn’t have that control that we would normally have if we were doing it ourselves, of course.”

Harris added: “Yeah, we cooperated with it and we did interviews for it and all that stuff — we did what they wanted us to do — but if we’d have done it, I think we’d have done it in a slightly different way, and I’ll say no more. But I still think the end result is… Well, I’ll say no more because it preempts whatever. I think people should just go and see it and see what they think.”

When Trunk asked whether the film covers the band’s overall history, Harris said: “Yeah, it’s historical stuff. There’s a lot of historical stuff for the first hour, probably, I suppose. So, yeah, I think people have gotta watch it and make their own minds up, really.”

Drummer Nicko McBrain, speaking to Kerrang! magazine, reflected on the challenge of condensing 50 years into a single film: “When you think about it, there’s 50 years of history to Iron Maiden. How do you tell that story in 90 minutes or so? That’s an awful lot to cram in, but I thought it was brilliant. I was overwhelmed by the whole thing, to be honest. There was a lot of information to absorb, so I was like a sponge.”

McBrain continued: “But the one thing I took away is how wonderful it was to see the fans tell their stories about what we mean, and what we’ve meant, to them. And of course, we have the wonderful Javier Bardem — who’s a great mate of mine — and Lars Ulrich, Chuck D, Gene Simmons, and so many other celebrities, too. But what impressed me the most was the interaction of the fans. There were a couple of moments when they were talking that I actually started to have a tear run down my cheek, and my wife just looked at me and squeezed my hand.”

Founded by Harris in East London in 1975, Iron Maiden has released 17 studio albums, sold over 100 million records, and played nearly 2,500 concerts across 64 countries. The documentary arrives mid-way through the band’s two-year “Run For Your Lives” world tour, which celebrated the band’s 50th anniversary in 2025. The tour continues in 2026 with over 50 shows worldwide, including a one-of-a-kind festival event called EddFest at Knebworth Park, England, on July 11.

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Today, the world’s fastest band speeds up and into its biggest, boldest, and most electrifying era to date: Dragonforce has announced Alissa White-Gluz as their newest member and first frontwoman. In a momentous union of two storied and unstoppable forces, the preeminent pioneers of extreme power metal will now be joined by one of metal’s legendary vocalists, unleashing both an intrepid evolution of the genre and the start of a seismic year ahead.

Beginning this Saturday, May 9, at Welcome To Rockville, and Sunday, May 17 at Sonic Temple, Dragonforce‘s debut live performances with Alissa White-Gluz will also kick off the 20th Anniversary of Inhuman Rampage.

As the 2006 album that birthed the Platinum-selling global phenomenon of “Through the Fire and Flames,” which spent 23 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold, Inhuman Rampage introduced the band and their music to tens of millions of new fans and counting. With extensive touring plans to be revealed, and a 10th studio album currently in the works, Dragonforce are bringing more listeners than ever into this next chapter of their eternally joyous, adrenaline-filled journey.
 
Herman Li on their lineup addition: “Alissa joining the band is an expansion of everything we’ve done up to this point. Twenty years is a long time to do anything, let alone survive the music industry and still be so inspired to continue doing what we love. Together, we will honor what made Inhuman Rampage matter, while showing people exactly where we’re going next. Having Alissa in the room changes everything. She doesn’t just sing, she makes all aspects of our music better. And she sounds incredible live! I can’t wait for the fans to see her and hear what we have been working on.”

Through her work with everyone from The Agonist to Kamelot, Arch Enemy, and her newly-launched Blue Medusa, Alissa White-Gluz has become an icon synonymous with strength, independence, versatility, and creative fearlessness, representing a new standard for women at the highest levels of heavy music.

Over two decades spent on the stage, blending ferocious and melodic theatricality with lyrical themes of philosophy, psychology, ethics, and the human experience, she has built a history spanning 15+ hours of recorded music, 60+ music videos, 40+ collaborations, and 2,000+ concerts across a myriad of subgenres.

Alissa White-Gluz said about joining Dragonforce: “I am beyond excited to be bringing such iconic music to life with these amazingly skilled musicians in such a fun and inspiring environment. It feels great to showcase all the colors of my voice and utilize all my singing styles in technically challenging, deeply energizing, highly addictive songs. I am so thankful for the amazing support I have been lucky enough to receive from the metal world over this wild career I’ve built; I want to keep pushing my boundaries and delivering exceptional music and live experiences to the fans that I cherish so much.”

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Deep Purple has announced Splat!, a new studio album due July 3 via earMUSIC. The 13-track record is described as the heaviest Deep Purple album in many years, recorded with the band playing together live in the studio — their longstanding approach to tracking.

Once again teaming with producer Bob Ezrin — whose credits include Kiss, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, and Alice Cooper — the current lineup of Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Don Airey, and Simon McBride has delivered what the band is billing as a direct continuation of the spirit that defined their classic early-1970s run.

Gillan said, “Where we are now with this incarnation of Deep Purple feels very much like a very ‘now’ version of Deep Purple as it was in the ’70s.”

On the album’s musical DNA, Gillan said: “I have to say, now we are very much back in with material that is compatible with ‘Highway Star,’ ‘Smoke On The Water,’ ‘Lazy’ — the dynamics, the balance, and the fun of the music we made from ’69 to ’73.”

The album’s conceptual framework was developed by Gillan. Rather than treating the end of humanity as an outright catastrophe, Splat! frames it as a transformation — a metamorphosis beyond physical existence. Further details around the concept will be revealed in the weeks leading up to the July 3 release.

To support the album, Deep Purple will extend their already substantial 2026 touring schedule with 86 shows across 28 countries on three continents. Gillan summed it up simply: “Deep Purple is in a great place right now.”

Splat! will be released in the following formats: CD (digisleeve); standard black 2LP gatefold (180g); limited purple 2LP gatefold (180g); limited transparent yellow 2LP gatefold (180g); and digital. A limited box set includes the 2LP gatefold, a CD digisleeve, a 12-page vinyl-sized booklet, three exclusive 10-inch vinyl records featuring live recordings from the band’s 2024 tour, and an exclusive 7-inch single of “Guinnesis” — a bonus track not included on the studio album.

Additional items available via the official artist store include a limited 2LP picture disc, a limited cassette, and a signed canvas edition limited to 199 copies worldwide. All LP editions include the 12-page LP-sized booklet with illustrations and full lyrics, available with the first pressing only.

Formed in 1968, Deep Purple has sold more than 120 million albums and toured globally for decades. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 and named the “Fifth Most Influential Band Ever” by British radio station Planet Rock. Splat! follows =1 (2024), Whoosh! (2020), inFinite (2017), and NOW What?! (2013), all produced with Ezrin.

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The Rolling Stones has announced Foreign Tongues, a new 14-track studio album due July 10 via Capitol Records. The record follows less than three years after Hackney Diamonds, the band’s Grammy Award-winning 2023 LP that reached No. 1 and went multi-platinum worldwide. Two tracks arrive today digitally: lead single “In The Stars” and album opener “Rough And Twisted.” The “In The Stars” single gets a physical release on May 15. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood are attending a media launch event in Brooklyn, New York, today.

Before the official announcement, the band planted early seeds with a limited white-label vinyl pressing of “Rough And Twisted” released under the alias The Cockroaches, which circulated among fans and collectors and sparked speculation about the album’s direction. Foreign Tongues was recorded in under a month at Metropolis Studios in West London, reuniting Jagger, Richards, and Wood with producer Andrew Watt, who also helmed Hackney Diamonds.

Pre-order the album here.

The album features the band’s core collaborators — bassist Darryl Jones, multi-instrumentalist Matt Clifford, and drummer Steve Jordan — alongside guests Steve Winwood, Paul McCartney of The Beatles, Robert Smith of The Cure, and Chad Smith of The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The record also includes a special appearance from the late Charlie Watts, captured during one of his final recording sessions before his death in August 2021.

Jagger said: “I love doing these recording sessions in London at Metropolis. It was a very intense few weeks recording ‘Foreign Tongues.’ We had 14 great tracks, and we went as fast as we could. I like the room there as it’s not too big, so you can feel the passion in the room from everyone.”

Richards said: “The ‘Foreign Tongues’ album has a continuity from ‘Hackney Diamonds’, and it was great to be working in London again, and to have that London vibe around us. It was a month of concentrated punch. To me, it’s all about the enjoyment of it. I’m blessed to be able to do this and long may it last.”

Wood said: “The atmosphere in the room was so creative, and the whole band was on top form throughout the whole process. Very often, we nailed it on the first take. I hope everyone loves it.”

The album’s cover art is a painting by American artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn, who said: “Creating the album cover for The Rolling Stones is an artistic honour — a dialogue with one of the most enduring forces in cultural history.”

Foreign Tongues will be released across a wide range of formats: CD, deluxe CD editions, cassette, standard and limited-colour vinyl pressings, exclusive retailer editions, and special box sets. The “In The Stars” single will also be available on CD and vinyl.

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Five Finger Death Punch has announced the European leg of its 20th-anniversary world tour, a 21-city run scheduled for January 16 through Feb. 22, 2027. Special guest Lamb Of God will appear on most dates; Scottish metallers Bleed From Within will round out the package. Tickets go on general sale May 8 at 10 a.m. local time (France: May 13). For more information, head over here.

Founding guitarist Zoltan Bathory said in a statement: “We built this band like a battleship, twenty years of everything life could throw at us, and we’re not just still here, we’re still growing. New fans discovering us every day, the fanbase is bigger now than it’s ever been. This world tour is the celebration that this milestone deserves. First leg is America in 2026, then Europe in 2027, and we’re not stopping there! South America, Australia, and Asia are all in the talks. This is going to be a big two or three years for Five Finger Death Punch, and we’re just getting started.”

Five Finger Death Punch‘s tenth studio album is expected later in 2026, with the first new single due this month. The European run will showcase material from the new LP alongside the band’s catalog of No. 1 hits. The North American leg of the 20th-anniversary tour runs July 20 through Oct. 23, 2026 — 48 cities opening at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey, with outlaw country artist Cody Jinks and Eva Under Fire as support.

The 21-date European run opens Jan. 16 in Manchester (AO Arena) and visits Glasgow, Dublin, Birmingham, and London before crossing to the continent for stops in Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Lodz, Prague, Munich, Stuttgart, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Zurich, Vienna, Berlin, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, and Helsinki, wrapping Feb. 22. Lamb of God will not appear at the Copenhagen date; the Prague date will feature Czech support Dymytry in their place.

Lamb Of God‘s latest album, Into Oblivion, is out now. Bleed From Within has built a reputation as one of heavy music’s most exciting live acts through relentless touring and critically acclaimed releases.

Five Finger Death Punch was formed in Las Vegas in 2005 and released its debut album, The Way Of The Fist, in 2007. The band’s most recent studio releases — Best Of: Volume 1 and Best Of: Volume 2 — feature newly re-recorded versions of the band’s biggest hits, including No. 1 single “I Refuse” (featuring Maria Brink) and “The End” (featuring Babymetal). Both collections were created in response to the sale of the band’s original masters, which occurred without the band’s knowledge or opportunity to reclaim them.

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Lex Legion, the new band featuring four-fifths of King Diamond‘s classic late-’80s lineup, has released the official music video for its second single, “Gypsy Tears.” The clip was directed by Patric Ullaeus of rEvolver Film Company. The band comprises guitarist Andy La Rocque, drummer Mikkey Dee, guitarist Pete Blakk, and bassist Hal Patino — the four instrumental members who appeared together on King Diamond‘s Them (1988) and Conspiracy (1989) — joined by vocalist Nils K. Rue of Pagan’s Mind.

Dee said of the new track: “It’s now time to release our second single, ‘Gypsy Tears.’ Another great song with a lot of fire and bite, this one is a real driving banger! The video, which is more of a short movie, does a great job of telling the story in the lyrics.”

Rue described the song: “At its core, the song is a dark portrait of obsession, told through the eyes of a watcher who cannot let go. The video re-imagines this as a timeless story of love and longing that stretches beyond reality itself. Through layered metaphors, the lyrics transform personal conflict into vast, symbolic landscapes — where emotional collapse feels like war-torn ground.”

Blakk added: “‘Gypsy Tears’ is the essence of me, Mikkey, Andy, and Hal. With Andy and me trading off solos and the power of Mikkey and Hal‘s rhythm section all supporting the powerful vocals of Nils, the song really brings a new dimension to metal in 2026. The video is tasteful, mystical, and raw. It’s a piece of art that will leave no one untouched.”

Pre-order the album here.

In an recent interview with The Metal Crypt, La Rocque explained how Lex Legion came together: “The story started back in 2008 when Pete and I talked about maybe doing something together. Then, many years later, during the pandemic, Pete continued writing a few riffs and played them for Mikkey, who thought, ‘This sounds really good. I want to be a part of this.’ They called me and asked if I wanted to join. I said, ‘Sure, man. We’re doing nothing really with King Diamond because we have a pandemic now.’ Hal Patino was also asked during that period. In the very end, everything went quite fast. We got a record deal, and everything was really smooth.”

On what separates Lex Legion from his work in King Diamond, La Rocque said: “This is totally unique. No one is writing this kind of music, and there’s a big hole for us to fill. The album is a journey, and every song is like the beat of a movie. The song style is different [to King Diamond] but still from the same era. The riffs are different, and the arrangements are a little less progressive and a little more straightforward.” He was emphatic that no King Diamond material crossed over: “The songs we write for Lex Legion are completely different and have nothing to do with King Diamond in that sense. I don’t want people to believe that I have some songs that were intended for King Diamond that I’m using here. No, not at all.”

Lex Legion‘s self-titled debut album will be released in June 2026 via MNRK Music Group. The group draws comparisons to heyday Iron Maiden, Queensrÿche, and Accept.

Between them, the five members of Lex Legion span decades of high-profile work. Dee went on from King Diamond to become the longtime drummer of Motörhead and later Scorpions. La Rocque has remained with King Diamond to this day while producing and collaborating widely. Rue has been the voice of Pagan’s Mind since that progressive metal band’s formation in 1997.

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Swedish progressive metal veterans Evergrey have released a new single, “Leaving The Emptiness,” along with an accompanying music video. The track is taken from their 15th studio album, Architects Of A New Weave, due June 5, 2026, via Napalm Records.

Frontman Tom S. Englund said: “Our new single is a high-energy firecracker that makes you want to jump — we know, because we just played it in Brazil twice and people were more in the air than on the ground. But don’t let the adrenaline fool you. Underneath the surge is something rawer — a song about the moment you stop running from what hurts and finally turn to face it. ‘Leaving The Emptiness’ hits hard because it earns it.

“The tension between the euphoric, major-key drive and the weight of the lyrics is completely intentional — we want you to feel joy and ache at the same time, because that’s what it actually feels like to face your demons and come out the other side. We also made a video that matches that energy in every way, and we genuinely cannot wait for you to see it. If you’ve ever stood in a crowd and felt the music pull something out of you that you didn’t know was still there — for us, this is that song,” Englund added.

Pre-order Architects Of A New Weave here.

Architects Of A New Weave will be released in multiple formats, including a 2-LP Gatefold Deluxe Edition (with a bonus LP and LP-sized 16-page booklet, exclusive to the Napalm Records mailorder), a 2-CD digipack (with six bonus tracks), and standard vinyl and digital editions.

The album arrives just days before Evergrey take the stage as special guest to Iron Maiden for two shows on their “Run For Your Lives” World Tour. Standout tracks from Architects Of A New Weave include “The World Is On Fire,” “Leaving The Emptiness,” “Heaven,” “The Prophecy,” and the title track.

Evergrey was formed in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1995. More than 30 years and 15 albums into their career, the band has built a devoted global following through relentless touring and a catalog that spans melodic progressive metal to gothic darkness. Their previous album, A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament), was released in 2022.

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Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin has addressed his retirement from the band in a May 1 livestream on his official YouTube channel, describing his exit as a warm and mutual parting after the tour behind Lighting Up The Sky. He said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “With the Godsmack thing, I tell you, people, it ended beautifully, and there were no hard feelings. And Godsmack 2.0 is coming, with Wade Murff on the drums and Sam Koltun on guitar. And it’s gonna be badass, ’cause I know [Godsmack frontman] Sully Erna, and he’s badass, and he’ll make a badass record. And Godsmack will persevere, 2.0. And no hard feelings on this side, because it’s all love.”

Larkin also put his 40-year career in perspective and spoke to the depth of his friendship with Erna: “The touring — I’ve been touring for 40 years. It was the greatest years of my life. Until it wasn’t. And so I stopped. And it was okay. And Sully understood, ’cause he knew me from the Wrathchild days, since 1986, [198]7, we met. That’s for real. There were no cell phones or the Internet, people. We wrote our numbers down after having met one another, and stayed in touch for 17 years before I joined Godsmack. So, we were friends way before that, and so now we’re friends way beyond that. And that’s important, I think, especially in moving on.”

In April 2025, Erna released a statement confirming that Larkin and guitarist Tony Rombola had left Godsmack “on good terms, but for no other reason than to fulfill their desire to live a simpler and quieter life away from touring.” Erna and bassist Robbie Merrill subsequently recruited Evanescence drummer Will Hunt and Dorothy guitarist Sam Koltun for a European tour in the spring of 2025.

Godsmack released a live album and Blu-ray, Live At Mohegan Sun, on May 1 via Primary Wave. Captured during the band’s sold-out Oct. 26, 2024, performance at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, the release marks the final show of the classic Godsmack lineup of Erna, Rombola, Merrill, and Larkin.

During an April 23 appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk,” Erna officially introduced Wade Murff as the band’s new permanent drummer. He said, “Sam‘s on board now full-time, and he’s gonna be the new player from this point forward. And the drummer that we chose, his name is Wade Murff. He’s worked with Daughtry and some other acts. A fairly under-the-radar kind of guy. A strong player. A great dude.” Erna added, “I really feel that the fans will be able to come and enjoy the music as they have always known it, because it won’t sound foreign to them, like there’s a new singer singing Godsmack stuff.”

Based in Los Angeles, Murff began playing the drums at age 4. He cites Led Zeppelin‘s John Bonham and Van Halen‘s Alex Van Halen as his early rock inspirations, and Slayer‘s Dave Lombardo and Pantera‘s Vinnie Paul Abbott as the players who drove him toward heavy music. His touring credits include Daughtry, Prong, Sebastian Bach, Orgy, and Doyle (of The Misfits).

Promoted by Live Nation, Godsmack‘s “The Rise Of Rock” 2026 North American tour — featuring Stone Temple Pilots and Dorothy as special guests — kicks off May 10 in Bristow, Virginia, and wraps Sept. 26 at Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater in Nampa, Idaho, with stops in Austin, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, and California.

Larkin joined Godsmack in 2002 after years with Wrathchild (later Wrathchild America and Souls At Zero) and Ugly Kid Joe. Rombola had served as the band’s lead guitarist since the mid-1990s. Godsmack‘s most recent studio album, Lighting Up The Sky, came out in February 2023 via BMG, co-produced by Erna and Andrew “Mudrock” Murdock (Avenged Sevenfold, Alice Cooper).

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Armored Saint bassist and longtime Fates Warning member Joey Vera says he remains hopeful that the progressive metal band will play live again, despite no concrete plans on the horizon. In a new interview with George Dionne on The Rock Is George podcast, Vera said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Man, I wish I had an answer for you… I don’t have any news on that, and I’m bummed about that because I do get asked about it a lot. And I’m still in touch with Jim [Matheos, Fates Warning guitarist] and with Ray [Alder, Fates Warning singer]. We text each other. And we’re sort of, like, ‘Hey, we miss you guys. Let’s go out and do this again.’ And they’re, like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.’ Well, everybody’s busy, which is kind of true. Everybody’s doing other things at the moment.”

Vera continued: “But I haven’t given up. I would love to do more shows. And I know that offers is coming in from promoters, ’cause sometimes they come to me. And I’m, like, ‘Hey, man, I got no pull here. You gotta go to the booking agents, and you gotta go to Matheos and Ray.’ But the interest is still there, and I hope that one of these days I can have something better to tell you.”

Four years ago, Vera told VWMusic about how he came to join Fates Warning: “I’d been friends with Jim Matheos and the guys since 1984. In fact, they asked me to fill in for Joe DiBase back in 1989, when he had a family emergency during their No Exit tour — I flew out and played four shows on the East Coast. One day, I got a call from Jim in 1996, and he asked me if I wanted to play on their new album. I said, ‘Hell yes.’ I didn’t know then that I’d still be working with them after all these years, but it’s been one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done.”

In February 2024, Alder told The Metal Gods Meltdown that Matheos has no interest in writing new Fates Warning music: “Jim doesn’t wanna write any more music for the band. I think he just kind of feels it wouldn’t be honest — he wouldn’t be honest with himself or to the fans. He’s just really not into it at the moment. Maybe he becomes inspired or bored. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

In May 2023, Alder elaborated to Rock Hard magazine: “With Fates Warning, after we did the last album and Jim saying he doesn’t wanna write any more Fates Warning music, I have to do something. I’m a singer. Music is my life.” Alder also noted that future touring remains complicated by scheduling: drummer Bobby Jarzombek is now the full-time drummer for country star George Strait, who does one-off shows rather than extended tours. Fates Warning last performed live in April 2019, closing out a North American tour.

Fates Warning formed in Hartford, Connecticut, in the early 1980s around vocalist John Arch, releasing three albums that shaped progressive metal — Night On Bröcken (1984), The Spectre Within (1985), and Awaken The Guardian (1986) — before Arch departed and was replaced by Alder. Vera has held the bass chair since 1996. The band’s most recent studio album, Long Day Good Night, was released in 2020.e.

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Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has publicly revealed that he was diagnosed with throat cancer in May 2025 and has since been given a clean bill of health. Speaking on an upcoming episode of Dean Delray‘s “Let There Be Talk” podcast, the 63-year-old Newsted said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “In one week, it’s gonna be a year. On May 8th of 2025, I underwent a procedure for throat cancer. And so they took a bunch of stuff out of there, and then they went in with lasers and took a bunch of stuff out. So the cavern inside my head is different from it was, but we got it early. And I got my ‘free and clear’ about three weeks ago. So I beat it.”

“I didn’t feel any different [before being diagnosed]. I had a little bit of an earache and a jawache. And my singing was being affected a bit,” Newsted recounted. “In February of last year, I was [hosting] my brother and his wife [at my home] here in Florida,” he continued. “They were visiting. And I felt [a lump on my neck], and then [my wife Nicole‘s] sitting next to me, and she goes, ‘What is that?’ And I go, ‘Um, hmm.’ So I went in next week, got everything checked out. The doctor calls and says — Instead of just telling you what’s up, he says, ‘You need to come in.’ That’s not good. And so I went in, and he dropped it. And I’m, like, ‘Who are you talking to? What, what, what? [I’m] Superman. Fuck you. There’s no way, man. Shit bounces off me. What are you talking about? That’s not how it is.’ I expected [something like that to happen] maybe 20 years from now or something.”

“But then I started thinking about it. And our accelerated lifestyle [when I was still in Metallica]. And what we were talking about before, with the big tours, you’re doing a couple of hundred 20 shows a year for a few years in a row, these types of things. Those touring years are dog years. Those are four or five into one, really, if you put the math down and the taxing on your cells and three flights a day and ‘expand, contract’ however many times. That kind of shit, it’ll get you. So I was trying to reason — of course you’re always trying to fucking reason, like, ‘What’s that [about]?’ And I go, ‘Wait a minute. What about my boy, my boy, my boy, my boy, my boy, my boy?’ — all across, all our comrades. No need to name-drop. All those [other musicians] that are [at the same level or higher], homie hit it way harder than I ever would’ve hit it. He’s still fucking smoking. What? Me? Wait a second, man. What the fuck?’ And then they told me what it was, and they’re very easy to define. And that’s my advantage in this,” he elaborated.

Newsted said the illness prompted the first real period of rest in his life — and a full sobriety he would never have chosen voluntarily: “I promised myself I was going to rest, and that was the first time I’ve done that in my life. There’s no way, with my arrogant, spoiled ass, that I would’ve stopped smoking weed, that I would’ve stopped drinking, that I would’ve stopped doing all the things. But the great spirit got my attention and said, ‘That’s not good right now, man.’ And so now I’m more clear-headed than I’ve been in my entire adult life. And so there are blessings within everything. The lemonade I’m making this summer, bro — sweet.”

Newsted simultaneously announced the first-ever North American headlining tour with Jason Newsted & The Chophouse Band — an 18-date run from July 1 through July 25, 2026. The tour opens at Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Massachusetts, and closes with a two-night stand at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 24-25. Ten of the dates are in support of Blackberry Smoke.

Stops include Albany, New York; Alexandria, Virginia; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Columbus, Ohio, among others across the South, Midwest, and East Coast. The 2026 lineup features Jesse Farnsworth on guitar and vocals, Jimbo Hart on bass and vocals, Humberto Perez on guitar, and Robert John-Tucker on drums and vocals.

When the tour was announced in April, Newsted said, “I’ve realized that this is where I can place my energy effectively now. The Chophouse Band plays everything from bluegrass to fucking slabs of metal. We’re covering a lot of ground. There could be a country flavor to a song, but it’ll still have sharp teeth. We are looking forward to an exciting summer!”

Named after Newsted‘s four recording studios across the U.S., The Chophouse Band has existed since 1992, when Newsted founded The Chophouse Records Studio in San Francisco. The band has performed periodically at benefit shows supporting veterans’ relief, animal rehabilitation, and youth music education. Newsted has described the sound as rooted in bluegrass, folk, soul, rock, and metal.

Newsted left Metallica in 2001 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and bassist Robert Trujillo in 2009. He shelved his heavy metal solo project Newsted in 2014 after two years, saying it had cost him “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

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