Waking up to the horror in Belgium is awfully sad and upsetting. Then to hear a Presidential candidate say really stupid things and not show any remorse or share condolences to the victims’ families and the country to Belgium has just made me SO ANGRY!
Ok, on to the news! That will make me feel better! And I love sharing this Facebook post by one of the management team members at Strong HQ Management who work with Killswitch Engage, commenting on the first week sales for the band’s new Incarnate album! “That moment when a band, of whom you have been a fan for 15+ years, friends with for just about that long, and whose team you have been on for 5+ of those years breaks all previous sales chart records with their incredible new album.
#6 – Billboard Top 200
#3 – Current Albums Chart
#1 – Rock Album Chart
#1 – Hard Music Album Chart
#1 – Canada Album Chart
#10 – UK Album Chart
#5 – Australia Album Chart
#10 – Germany Album Chart
Couldn’t be prouder to be a member of team Killswitch Engage today and every day. Huge congratulations to these incredible gentlemen and all who surround them.” Our sentiments exactly, Jason! Congrats to all and to Roadrunner Records!
And singer Jesse Leach said Incarnate was a difficult album to make: “We hit a point in this record where I needed to take a break. I needed to walk away from the stuff and sort of just really think about what did I really want to say on this record. And if I wasn’t feeling genuine, if it didn’t feel heartfelt, what’s the point of even putting it out at this point in our career? We can’t phone anything in, and as an artist it’s important to put off stuff that comes from your soul. In this day and age of pop music that doesn’t have a lot of weight, I think it’s important for bands like us to still continue to wear our heart on our sleeves.”
Check out KSe’s new video for “Hate By Design.”
I mentioned a few weeks ago about Bring Me The Horizon getting ready to perform with an orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London next month. The Pulse Of Radio reporting the band has now confirmed plans to record a new live album and DVD on Apr 22nd, when the British group plays at London’s historic domed venue. The show, a charity gig for the Teenage Cancer Trust, will mark the first time in the band’s career that it will be backed by a full orchestra onstage.The performance will be made available as a two-CD, two-DVD edition, as well as a deluxe five-disc photobook. The set will also be available in DVD, Blu-Ray and heavyweight triple vinyl formats. Bring Me The Horizon: Live at Royal Albert Hall is expected to arrive in September. Meanwhile, the band has posted footage of itself rehearsing with a choir for the upcoming show.
Bring Me The Horizon recently announced a headlining U.S. tour that will kick off this spring. The band will launch its run on April 30th at the Welcome To Rockville festival in Jacksonville, FL, ending three weeks later at Ohio’s Rock On The Range event on May 22nd. The British act is supporting its fifth studio album, That’s The Spirit, which debuted at Number Two on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 62,000 copies in its first week of release.
Pulse also reporting Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi would like the band to play its final show ever in its hometown of Birmingham, England. According to the Birmingham Mail, Iommi expressed that wish during “An Audience with Tony Iommi,” a live conversation with the legendary guitarist that took place on Saturday (Mar 19th) at Birmingham Town Hall.
Speaking about Sabbath’s touring plans after the band’s current final announced date in Phoenix on September 21st, Iommi said, “We are off to Australia in a couple of weeks, but it would be nice to think it could finish back where it all started — in Birmingham.” He added, “When we are home where we started, we have always found it a bit nerve-racking, but Birmingham means such a lot to us.”
Iommi also hinted that a live album or concert video could emerge from the band’s final go-round, saying, “It’s possible, because we are doing a lot of filming during the tour, too.” Iommi said Sabbath’s farewell tour, which began in January, is truly its last because he is not physically capable of doing long tours any more. But he insisted he would continue to play music.
Iommi told us not long ago his determination has always been the key to his success and longevity: “I’ve always been the same. I always have to try to get over that barrier, whatever it may be, and do it, you know. And that’s continued in what I do with the music. Because I’m determined to do it, I’m determined to carry on. And it’s been with everything like that.”
The guitarist was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012 and was treated all through the recording of Sabbath’s reunion album, 13, as well the band’s extensive 2013 world tour. But he admitted last year that he was worried the rigors of the road could bring the disease back. Sabbath will spend most of the spring and early summer in Australia and Europe, before beginning the second — and possibly final — North American leg of “The End” tour on Aug 17th in Wantagh, NY.