Anthrax’s founding rhythm guitarist Scott Ian has reflected on the thrash metal stars’ chaotic tour with Pantera in 1997 and ’98.

Talking exclusively in the brand-new issue of Metal Hammer, the 62-year-old says he truly “learned how to drink” while on the road with guitarist Dimebag Darrell and the boys, for whom nu metal outfit Coal Chamber opened.

He also recalls a particularly wild story where he was sick after an intense night, only for Dimebag to be waiting outside the toilet with even more alcohol.

“We did a tour with Pantera and it was fucking chaos,” says Ian. “I would ride on Dimebag and Vinnie’s [Paul, drummer and Dimebag’s brother] bus sometimes, which seemed like a good idea when you were getting on it at 3am. And then it’s seven in the morning and they’ve been watching the same live Kiss videos for four hours.”

The guitarist continues: “I learned how to drink on that tour. One night I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I opened the bathroom door and Darrell’s standing there with a shot waiting for me. ‘Dude, I just threw up.’ He looks at me and goes, ‘What are you talking about, Baldini? Now you just have more room.’”

Dimebag, who was fatally shot aged 38 during a show by he and Paul’s post-Pantera band Damageplan in 2004, was a legendary drinker to the point that he had his own signature beverage called the Black Tooth Grin, named after a Megadeth lyric. Machine Head frontman and friend Robb Flynn recalled in 2022 that Dimebag once got so drunk at a show that he smashed up one of Flynn’s guitars, yet he still went on to play perfectly.

Flynn told YouTuber Ola Englund: “He picks up my guitar, and he goes – headstock first – right into the fucking ground. And I was like, ‘Dude!’ I was fucking pissed!

“And that dude gets out there – and literally plays a fucking flawless show. Just every fucking note, every lead… dude doesn’t miss a note. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed [it].”

Anthrax collaborated with Dimebag on multiple occasions, getting him to contribute guest guitar solos across three of their studio albums: Fueled and King Size on 1995’s Stomp 442, Inside Out and Born Again Idiot on 1998’s Vol. 8: The Threat Is Real, and Strap It On and Cadillac Rock Box on 2003’s We’ve Come For You All.

The veteran New York thrashers released their long-awaited new album Cursum Perficio via Nuclear Blast last month. Parts were recorded at Studio 606, the California recording space owned by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. The band have no upcoming tour dates announced but recently played a run of shows supporting Iron Maiden.

Read the full interview with Anthrax, conducted by Grohl, in the new Hammer. The issue also features an in-depth celebration of late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, 40 years after his death. Order your copy now and have it delivered directly to your door.

(written by Islander) Serpent Skies are a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gävle, Sweden who are returning after a 13-year hiatus with a new chapter in their story. The band’s current incarnation was formed in 2012. Drawing their inspirations from the classic Gothenburg sound, they released a debut EP named Graveyard Poets that same […]

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Iron Maiden will return to North America in spring 2027 for 16 additional dates on their Run For Your Lives Tour, in what the band says will be the third and final leg of its 50th anniversary trek.

The new shows follow the band’s 2026 run across the United States and Canada, concentrating on areas missed on the previous leg, including the North West and South East. The itinerary mixes arena and outdoor shows, ending with headline appearances at Sonic Temple in Columbus, Ohio, and Boardwalk Rock in Ocean City, Maryland.

Iron Maiden will bring the full Run For Your Lives production, with a setlist focused on the early decades of their career. The band also plans to bring back its Eddie’s Dive Bars fan events.

Bassist Steve Harris explained that the band had originally planned to take a break from live performances in 2027, but the response to the recent North American shows persuaded them to return to regions they had missed. He said the group also welcomed the opportunity to play two US festivals at the end of the tour.

Manager Rod Smallwood praised the strong attendances and multi-generational crowds on the recent leg. According to the announcement, the completed Run For Your Lives Tour is expected to total 107 shows, reaching more than three million fans across 36 countries.

Bullet For My Valentine will join as special guests, ahead of the announced 19 March 2027 release of their album Social Apocalypse. The Raven Age complete the all-British bill, following previous shows supporting Iron Maiden in South and Central America.

Iron Maiden 2027 North American Tour Dates

• 14 April – Tacoma, WA – Tacoma Dome
• 16 April – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
• 18 April – Portland, OR – Moda Center
• 20 April – Wheatland, CA – Toyota Amphitheatre
• 22 April – Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
• 24 April – San Bernardino, CA – Glen Helen Amphitheater
• 26 April – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
• 28 April – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion
• 1 May – Tampa, FL – Benchmark International Arena
• 2 May – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
• 5 May – Atlanta, GA – Lakewood Amphitheatre
• 7 May – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
• 9 May – Hartford, CT – The Meadows Music Theatre
• 11 May – Belmont Park, NY – UBS Arena
• 14 May – Columbus, OH – Sonic Temple (festival)
• 16 May – Ocean City, MD – Boardwalk Rock (festival)

Iron Maiden 2027 Tickets And Presales

Artist presales begin Monday 19 October 2026 at 10am local time, followed by additional presales during the week. General ticket sales begin Friday 23 October at 10am local time. Festival ticket details will be available through the respective event websites.

VIP packages will also be offered, including a seated concert ticket, access to the official Iron Maiden TROOPER pre-show party and exclusive merchandise. Further information is available at IronMaiden.com.

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The post Iron Maiden Announce 16 North American Tour Dates For 2027 first appeared on MetalTalk – Heavy Metal News, Reviews and Interviews.

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Maybe you’re a romantic. You find beauty in tragedy. You dream of windswept moors and ruined cathedrals. Of Cathy and Heathcliff. When you close your eyes you imagine your back being pressed against a gravestone, a hand sliding up your thigh. You exist between darkness and the dying of the light. And maybe, just maybe, you like your music a little rough. ‘To Die As Lovers May’ might be the EP for you.

In the history of band names rarely has one been so perfect as Venus Grrrls. Literally the goddess of love intertwined with the attitude of the riot grrrl movement. That’s their sound, right there. They describe it as ‘Goth Grunge’ which means they power the atmosphere of dark wave and post-punk with the beating heart of a rock band. It’s a lovers’ tryst between Siouxsie And The Banshees and Guns N’ Roses and it’s absolutely intoxicating.

Thus far Venus Grrrls’ career has been like a ball at Thrushcross Grange; lively music, a great opportunity and handful of singles. The new EP is their first big push, basically showing off exactly what they’re capable of. For this reason, it opens with the single ‘Eve’. Powered by an absolutely crushing drum beat from Alannagh Doherty and a throbbing bassline from Hannah Barraclough it whirrs like a terrifying industrial machine. As Eliza Lee’s guitar saws down the centre you can feel yourself being churned up in its emotive gears. It’s a thrilling start. With the standard set so high the subsequent songs are free to explore more varied soundscapes.

Each song has its own distinct identity. So although songs like ‘Carmilla’ and ‘Wormfood’ are powered by delicious riffs they writhe and contort into different shapes. With its shimmering verses and gated drum sound ‘Mother Knows’ is evocative of dreams and memories. Brad Mair’s production captures a rich and layered sound, but it’s all about spaces and the broad canvas vocal narratives can be painted upon. As the songs ebb and flow it’s hard not to get swept into its swirling romance. The special ingredient though is the dirt, the grubby guitar tone that buries under your skin. The glistening keyboard stabs on ‘Carmilla’ give it a delightful, new romantic tone but the outro peels away into a wicked, Slash-style guitar solo giving it a dangerous, salacious quality.

GK, the band’s vocalist, has a haunting, sharp voice, like a fractured mirror. Between the powerful choruses of ‘Eve’ or ‘Evergreen’ she leans on “ah” sounds and softly hummed notes to ensnare you in her melodies but always catches you out with her reflections. There is a vampiric undercurrent to ‘Carmilla’ implying sexual tension but it’s more explicit as ‘Mother Knows’ explores the eroticism of a graveyard rendezvous, making it startlingly intense. That said, the whispered, sensual parts and soft moans on ‘Wormfood’ are even more alluring.

Beauty isn’t just in the eye of the beholder, it’s beneath gorgeous soundscapes, inside dirty guitar riffs and is filtered through dark romanticism. ‘To Die As Lovers May’ is an intensely bewitching EP.

IAN KENWORTHY

Iron Maiden, A Perfect Circle and 12 other rock and metal bands have been announced for the 2027 Sonic Temple lineup so far. Continue reading…

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The Iron Maiden tour 2027 that wasn’t supposed to happen now has sixteen dates. The band had planned a year off the road after the Run For Your Lives 50th-anniversary run; instead they’ve announced a surprise North American leg for April and May 2027, opening at the Tacoma Dome on April 14 and closing at Boardwalk Rock in Maryland on May 16, with a Friday-night headline at Sonic Temple in Columbus and Bullet For My Valentine supporting every arena show. Steve Harris: ‘We can’t get everywhere but we can try!’ The catch, if you’re north of the border: Vancouver on April 16 is the only Canadian date.

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Iron Maiden Tour 2027: All 16 North American Dates

The leg runs April 14 to May 16, 2027, billed as the Iron Maiden Run For Your Lives North American Tour 2027, with Bullet For My Valentine on all arena dates.

On-sale and presale details weren’t in the announcement; we’ll update this page the moment they land. The routing is the story: the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast, the two regions Harris says the band missed on the first leg, get the bulk of it, with California and the Northeast filled in and two festivals closing it out.

‘We Can’t Get Everywhere But We Can Try’: Why The Year Off Got Cancelled

Steve Harris said the band had been ‘enjoying this last leg in the USA and Canada so much’ that they decided to take the show to the parts of the continent they’d missed, particularly the North West and South East.

That’s the whole explanation, and from Harris it’s a long one. The first North American leg of Run For Your Lives, the 50th-anniversary tour that has carried the band through 2025 and 2026, included the first stadium headline shows Maiden have ever played in the United States, and manager Rod Smallwood called it ‘terrific,’ with ‘huge sell-out crowds.’ His sign-off: ‘We look forward to seeing you all again next Spring.’

It’s also the second Harris announcement in three days. On Tuesday he booked six nights at the Cart & Horses, the 120-capacity East London pub where Maiden played their first show, for British Lion this December. He’s 70. He will play a pub in December and an amphitheatre in April and consider both a normal week. There isn’t another bass player in metal you could say that about.

Sonic Temple 2027: Maiden Headline Friday Night In Columbus

Iron Maiden headline Sonic Temple on Friday, May 14, 2027; the festival runs May 13–16 at the Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, with single-day, weekend and VIP passes already on sale.

The rest of the bill so far: A Perfect Circle, Primus, Clutch, Sleeping With Sirens, Crowbar, Escape The Fate and Saosin, with PeelingFlesh, Emmure, Showing Teeth, Imminence and Vana further down, and the festival promising ‘hundreds more acts’ with the full schedule due next week. Reading between the lines, the other three headliners are the news that’s being held back, and Maiden going first means the organisers are leading with their biggest name.

Two days later the leg ends at Boardwalk Rock in Ocean City, Maryland, the second festival on the run. That’s the only Midwest and mid-Atlantic coverage the tour has. If you’re in Chicago, Detroit, Denver or Toronto, Columbus is your show.

The Canada Problem

Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on April 16 is the only Canadian date on the 2027 leg; there is no Toronto, Montreal, Calgary or Edmonton show.

Harris’s ‘we can’t get everywhere’ is honest, and the first leg did cover Canada. But a 16-date North American tour with one Canadian stop, on the Pacific side, leaves the country’s biggest metal market with a drive to Belmont Park, Hartford or Columbus. For Ontario and Quebec fans the realistic options are UBS Arena on May 11 or the Sonic Temple weekend on May 14. Book early; both will go.

The upside is the Bullet For My Valentine pairing on every arena night, which puts a band that grew up on Maiden’s first two records in front of the audience that bought them, and a Maiden set that, on this tour, has been built almost entirely from the catalogue’s first decade. Expect the same.

What To Expect From The Show

The Run For Your Lives production has been a career-spanning set with the emphasis on 1980–1992, and the 2027 leg is billed under the same name.

Everything Bruce Dickinson has said about this tour points to it continuing as is: the 50th-anniversary framing, the big Eddie, ‘Doctor Doctor’ over the PA before the lights go down, and a setlist that treats the first seven albums as the point. The band haven’t said whether the 2027 leg changes the set; if the first leg sold out stadiums with it, there’s no reason to.

What has changed is the plan. A band that announced a break and then cancelled it because the shows were too good to stop is the opposite of a farewell, and worth saying plainly in a year when Megadeth, Judas Priest’s bassist and half the Big Four’s contemporaries are saying goodbye. The great frontmen are the ones who keep coming back. Dickinson is 68. Harris is 70. They’re adding dates.

TL;DR

• Iron Maiden have announced a surprise 16-date North American leg for April 14 to May 16, 2027, billed as the Run For Your Lives North American Tour 2027, after planning a year off.
• Bullet For My Valentine support every arena show; the run opens at the Tacoma Dome and closes at Boardwalk Rock in Ocean City, Maryland.
• Maiden headline Sonic Temple in Columbus on Friday, May 14; the festival runs May 13–16 with A Perfect Circle, Primus and Clutch already announced and ‘hundreds more’ to come next week.
• Vancouver on April 16 is the only Canadian date; Chicago, Detroit, Denver and Toronto are not on the routing.
• On-sale and presale details weren’t announced; this page will be updated when they are.

FAQ

Sixteen dates, one in Canada, and a year off that lasted about a week. Tell us which show you’re going to in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for on-sale dates, presale codes and the rest of the Sonic Temple lineup when it drops.

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2023’s return of these Bay Area Thrash icons brought a flutter to many an old Thrashers heart. Founding member Craig Locicero brought long-time members Matt Camacho (bass) and Steve Smyth back into the Forbidden fold, with new singer Norman Skinner and Chris Kontos on drums.

Forbidden – Forbidden 

Release Date: 23 October 2026

Words: Paul Hutchings

European festivals, including a curtailed set at Bloodstock, saw the first glimpses of the new line-up, now settled with guitarist Jeremy Von Epp replacing Smyth. But it is new music that the fans want, and now, 16 years after Omega Wave, it is finally time to embrace and immerse yourself in the self-titled album.

I will admit I was underwhelmed on first listen. It felt patchy and did not hang together that well. But repeated plays have seen Forbidden creep into my consciousness with much better form.

I will be the first to admit that Skinner’s vocals are not my favourite at times. His high-pitched histrionics on Divided By Zero grate a little, although his gruffer delivery works well for me.

Whilst it is right to pin the Thrash label on Forbidden, there is plenty more than heads-down riffage. Opener Single Point Failure ticks the old school box but move forward to DCLXVI, and you get a more eclectic sound, sludgy albeit with some neat Thrash edges to draw blood from.

The guitar work on this album is impressive, with some tasty dual lead work on DCLXVI echoing early Maiden. 

And that might be the thing about Forbidden that makes it an appealing repeat listen. The progressive nature of several tracks, and the multi-layered shades of the nine-minute finale in Flower Of Life all prove that this is a more complex and carefully crafted album than some of their peers may have delivered in recent times. 

There are some curve balls to consider. Jisei is full of haunting atmosphere but does not really go anywhere. It is one of the weakest tracks in my opinion, but that is maybe because it takes a left turn and is quite unexpected.

Set between the crunch of Psyclops and the out-and-out mayhem of Mutually Assured Dysfunction, which sits very much in the Flotsam & Jetsam ballpark, it is a strange one alright.

Technically, Forbidden is excellent. Kontos has nothing to prove, but his precision drumming is on point throughout, whilst the combined guitar work of Locicero and Von Epp is razor sharp, yet full of passion, emotion and melody.

The work on tracks such as Mutually Assured Dysfunction and Burning the Lungs Of Earth is ferocious. And the addition of Brann Dailor’s vocals on Sycophantasy makes it one of the standout tracks on the album. 

It is clear that the band are rightly proud of the record. Locicero states, “Making Forbidden felt more like an odyssey than a typical recording process. We set out to create a record that reminds people why they fell in love with Thrash and Heavy Metal in the first place, embracing raw energy, melody, and the imperfections that give heavy music its character.

“Every member brought their best, and having Brann Dailor (Mastodon) join us on Sycophantasy was an incredible addition. Forbidden is five lifetimes of experience forged into one piece of metallic art.”

Ending the album is Flower In Life. At nine minutes in length, it has scope to be much more, and it delivers with a progressive twist and turn or two that makes it much more than Thrash Metal, expansive and creativity wrapped around a fiery Thrash heart. 

Forbidden is going to be divisive. For me, it is an enticing listen that worked in parts. It is solid for sure, and I really liked the more expansive and experimental parts.

I can see why the band are pleased with it. This is an album for Metal fans, not just Thrash aficionados. 

Forbidden will release their self-titled album on 23 October 2026 via BLKIIBLK. Pre-orders are available from ffm.bio/forbidden-forbiddenalbum.

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