Queensrÿche
Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1980 in Washington out of the local band The Mob; the band has released 15 studio albums, one EP, several DVDs, continues to tour and record. The original lineup consisted of guitarists Michael Wilton and Chris DeGarmo, drummer Scott Rockenfield, bassist Eddie Jackson, lead vocalist Geoff Tate. Queensrÿche has sold over 20 million albums worldwide, including over 6 million albums in the United States; the band received worldwide acclaim after the release of their 1988 album Operation: Mindcrime, considered one of the greatest heavy metal concept albums of all time. Their follow-up release, released in 1990, was very successful and included the hit single "Silent Lucidity"; the band has received three Grammy Award nominations for songs from both albums. In 1998, drummer Rockenfield received an individual Grammy nomination. In 1998, guitarist and primary songwriter DeGarmo left the band for personal reasons. Over the years, his replacements have been Kelly Gray, Mike Stone, Parker Lundgren.
Following a publicized backstage altercation before a show in São Paulo, Brazil, in April 2012, Tate was fired from the band and replaced with then-Crimson Glory singer Todd La Torre. In response to his dismissal and his wife Susan filed a lawsuit in a Washington court, claiming that he was wrongfully terminated; the ruling in the preliminary injunction was that both parties were allowed to use the name Queensrÿche until a court ruling or a settlement decided who would get to use the name. A settlement was reached on April 17, 2014, in which founding members Wilton and Jackson were awarded the rights to the band trademark, continuing to play with the lineup that additionally includes singer La Torre and guitarist Lundgren. During the time, both parties could use the name Queensrÿche, Tate created his own lineup featuring former guitarist Gray and musicians from bands including Blue Öyster Cult, Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, AC/DC and Quiet Riot; this version of Queensrÿche with Geoff Tate released the album Frequency Unknown on April 23, 2013, while Queensrÿche released their eponymous album on June 24 and 25, 2013.
Both bands toured in 2013 and 2014. The foundations for Queensrÿche began in the late 1970s. Guitarist Michael Wilton started the band Joker with friends in 1978, they were joined by guitarist Chris DeGarmo in 1979. In 1980, Wilton met drummer Scott Rockenfield at Easy Street Records in Seattle, they formed the band Cross+Fire together, they covered songs from popular heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, practiced in the garage of Rockenfield's parents which they called "The Dungeon" and fitted with egg cartons as acoustic cladding. Before long, DeGarmo and bassist Eddie Jackson joined Cross+Fire, the band name was changed to The Mob, after the Black Sabbath song "The Mob Rules". In need of a singer for a one-off performance at a local rock festival, they recruited Babylon frontman Geoff Tate. After Babylon broke up, Tate performed a few shows with The Mob, but left because he was not interested in performing heavy metal covers. In 1981, The Mob put together sufficient funds to record a demo tape.
Still without a singer, Tate was once again enlisted to help, much to the disapproval of his then-current band, Myth. The group recorded the four songs "Queen of the Reich", "Nightrider", "Blinded", "The Lady Wore Black", the latter of which Tate had written the lyrics for. For an entire year, they were rejected by all of them; the Mob were offered a management contract by Kim and Diana Harris, the owners of Easy Street Records. However, as Tate remained committed to staying in Myth, the band reluctantly searched for another singer; because the name "The Mob" was not available, their manager urged them to choose a different name. They ran out of ideas, decided to name the band after the first song on their demo tape, "Queen of the Reich"; the spelling "Queensreich" was modified to prevent association of the band with Nazism. The name "Queensrÿche" is written with a metal umlaut over the letter'y'; as the band joked: "The umlaut over the'y' has haunted us for years. We spent eleven years trying to explain how to pronounce it."
The umlaut is used on all of Queensrÿche's releases, except for their 2011 album, Dedicated to Chaos. Kim Harris sent the demo tape and a band photo to a friend who wrote for Kerrang! magazine, resulting in a glowing review. On the strength of the growing buzz that surrounded them in both the United States and Europe following this review, the Harrises released Queensrÿche's demo tape as a self-titled EP on their independent label 206 Records in 1983. After the EP garnered international praise, receiving much airplay and selling an unusual number of copies for a small independent release, Tate agreed to leave Myth and become Queensrÿche's permanent lead singer. On June 29 and 30, 1983, Queensrÿche was the opening act for Zebra in Portland and Seattle respectively. Kim Harris knew A&R manager Mavis Brodey of EMI-America from the time she was the music director of KZOK-FM, he convinced her to come to one of these shows. Brodey offered Queensrÿche a contract with EMI, spanning 15 years and encompassing seven albums.
EMI re-released the EP Queensrÿche to moderate success. The band toured with Quiet Riot through the south and with Twisted Sister to the East Coast and Canada, opened for Dio in Seattle. After the EP tour, Queensrÿche travelled to
Fatal Portrait
Fatal Portrait is the debut album by the heavy metal band King Diamond. The album was released in 1986 on Roadrunner Records, it is the only King Diamond album to date in which guitarist Andy LaRocque does not receive writing credits. Fatal Portrait was produced by Rune Hoyer. Along with The Spider's Lullabye, this is one of the band's only albums, not a whole concept album; this album has sold over 100,000 copies in North America alone. The title of the album comes from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Wilde describes the painting as “the fatal portrait” several times throughout the novel. Five songs on this album form a short story. Narrator sees a face in "every candle that burns"; this face speaks one word to him: "Jonah". So he speaks a rhyme and frees the spirit from the candle. It's the spirit of a little girl named Molly, who tells him her story, that happened seven years before. Mrs. Jane kept her 4-year-old daughter Molly in the attic. Before, Mrs. Jane painted Molly's portrait and put it above the fireplace, so that Molly would become immortal.
Mrs. Jane speaks a rhyme and burns the portrait. A free spirit of Molly returns to haunt her. All lyrics written by King Diamond. Band membersKing Diamond - lead & backing vocals, all guitars on "Voices from the Past", producer Andy LaRocque - lead guitars Michael Denner - lead guitars, assistant producer Timi Hansen - bass Mikkey Dee - drumsProductionRune Höyer - producer Roberto Falcao - engineer
United Abominations
United Abominations is the eleventh studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth. Released on May 8, 2007, United Abominations is the first Megadeth release distributed through Roadrunner Records and, with the exception of the band's frontman Dave Mustaine, was recorded with an all-new line-up. While touring to promote the album, guitarist Glen Drover left the band for personal reasons and was replaced by Chris Broderick, leaving this as the only Megadeth studio album to which he contributed. United Abominations was well received by critics and debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, the highest chart position for the band since 1994's Youthanasia until it was succeeded by 2013's Super Collider. Greg Prato of AllMusic stated Megadeth "sound reborn" on United Abominations; the lyrics of the album deal with politics and the state the world is in, with Ed Thompson of IGN stating the album is the band's most politically charged. The album was named the number one metal album of 2007 by Guitar World.
In the 2007 Burrn! magazine Reader's Poll, it was voted Best Album Cover, "Washington Is Next" was voted Best Tune. Prior to the release of United Abominations, Megadeth signed a recording contract with Roadrunner Records; the band had troubles with music rights involving two former labels that carried Megadeth and Sanctuary Records. This is the first Megadeth album since the 2004 album The System Has Failed, released through Sanctuary. While on tour to support The System Has Failed, Megadeth frontman and vocalist Dave Mustaine contemplated breaking up Megadeth to record as a solo artist. At a sold-out concert in Buenos Aires, Mustaine stated; the show in Buenos Aires, at which this information was announced, was recorded and released on CD and DVD as That One Night: Live in Buenos Aires. Megadeth had a new band lineup, aside from Mustaine, comprising Glen Drover, James LoMenzo, Shawn Drover. Mustaine chose these people for full-time members rather than session musicians, he stated that he liked the Drovers' "sibling chemistry" and that LoMenzo was a "legend".
Mustaine stated he did not "go into making this record with any pre-conceived notions". He said some of the lyrics on United Abominations were written about his frustration with his past record labels, stating "a lot of that translated into the intensity on the record." Mustaine wrote the songs for the album in an attempt to "stir something in the minds of the listener". The lyrics of the album were about choices the American government were making at the time, which Mustaine found to be foolish. Mustaine stated recording the new songs was "super fun", despite having troubles with some of the complex music and vocal arrangements. All of the lyrics and music, with the exception of one song, were written by Mustaine. "Never Walk Alone... A Call to Arms" was co-written by guitarist Glen Drover; when bassist James LoMenzo was asked about the lyrics of the album, he said to "talk to Dave about that". Although most of the band had no writing credits on the album, they stated that they were excited about recording the music.
United Abominations was recorded in 2006 at SARM Hook End Studios, England. Additional overdubs were recorded at S. I. R. Rehearsal studio, Hollywood and Mustaine Music, California. Most of the record was tracked in England because Mustaine admired the fact that his favorite band, Led Zeppelin recorded there many times. Mustaine produced the album, with additional production handled by Andy Sneap. "À Tout le Monde", is a remake of "A Tout le Monde" which appeared on the 1994 album Youthanasia. The song is a more uptempo version of the original song, features Lacuna Coil vocalist Cristina Scabbia singing backing vocals. Scabbia stated she was "really surprised about it because'A Tout le Monde' is a song that I've always loved, it was a big surprise for me to get this invitation—I was honored to be part of it." Mustaine chose Scabbia over three other choices because of her "reign in the heavy metal business". Mustaine stated that he intended for the song to be a B-side for Japan, but the president of Roadrunner Records wanted "À Tout le Monde" released as the album's first single.
The song "Gears of War" is featured on the soundtrack to the video game of the same name. The song had no lyrics; the band accepted the offer and wrote lyrics for the song, but it was too late to use the lyrics in the version for the video game, as the game was near completion. All artwork for the album was selected from a contest held by DeviantArt; the contestants were asked to design a new version of Vic Rattlehead, the band mascot which appears on nearly every Megadeth album cover. Mustaine chose from the top 11 finalists to be included in the CD booklet; the cover was unveiled in August 2006, of which the image depicts the United Nations headquarters in flames and being destroyed by flying oil barrels. Vic Rattlehead and the'Angel of Deth' are pictured in the foreground. Although the cover of the CD was not the winner of the contest, Mustaine chose it as his favorite picture, wanted it for the cover. No photographs of the band were taken for the CD booklet, leaving the entire design as fan-made artwork.
United Abominations was set for an October 2006 release, but with the scheduled release date approaching, Mustaine told Billboard magazine in August 2006, "We're putting the finishing touches on it. We've got a little more work be
Discordia (song)
"Discordia" is a one-off single by Queensrÿche vocalist Todd La Torre and former Megadeth/King Diamond guitarist Glen Drover, released in August 2014. The song made the iTunes Top 100 Heavy Metal Songs upon its release. Drover and La Torre had shared the stage together, when Drover joined Queensrÿche during their show at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto on March 7, 2013, where they played the song "Take Hold of the Flame" from Queensrÿche's 1984 album The Warning as an encore. "Discordia" was conceived as part of a project spearheaded by Drover, who explained: "I was thinking about doing an album of heavier stuff and have a bunch of guest musicians and singers on it. Chuck Billy was going to do something on it, Henning Basse and I covered an old Eidolon song, never released, so I was toying around with having a different singer on each song. I just wanted to work with people that I like in the industry and respect as musicians. I got in touch with Todd and asked him if he'd be willing to do a song, he like the tune I sent him.
One thing led to another, we did the track, we're excited about it." "As soon as I heard the track I thought it was great," said La Torre. "Glen told me to just see what I could do with it, no pressure, no rush, it turned out to be pretty quick and easy." This song was going to be kept on the back burner until Drover had completed the rest of his album but La Torre said " liked it so much that he didn't want it to sit until the whole project was done." "Discordia" by Glen Drover and Todd La Torre on YouTube
Shawn Drover
Shawn Drover is a Canadian musician, best known for his work with the American heavy metal band Megadeth. He began playing the drums at the age of 13. In 1993 he founded the Canadian power metal band, with his brother Glen, he uses Sabian cymbals and Yamaha drums, Pro-mark drum sticks, Toca Percussion, Evans Drumheads and Extreme Isolation headphones. After ten years in Megadeth, Drover announced his departure from the band on November 25, 2014, the same day that guitarist Chris Broderick left the band; the pair formed the extreme metal supergroup Act of Defiance together in late 2014. While in rehearsal for "Blackmail The Universe Tour" in October 2004, six days before the first show, Shawn replaced newly returned drummer Nick Menza in thrash metal band Megadeth, unable to prepare for the physical demands of a full US tour. Shawn has been playing guitar since 1980, which he learned from watching his brother, Glen Drover play. Shawn wrote most of the music for all 6 Eidolon records as well as all of the lyrics for all Eidolon records except "The Parallel Otherworld".
He was playing guitar during Megadeth's "Blackmail The Universe Tour" in Japan. Shawn and his brother Glen Drover switched instruments playing "Paranoid" and the second half of "Peace Sells". Glen sat at the drums, Shawn played the guitar, during Gigantour show in Toronto on September 3, 2005. Shawn co-wrote the Grammy Nominated song "Head Crusher" from 2009's Endgame, as well as "Built for War" from 2013's Super Collider. While on the Gigantour in 2005, Shawn became the third Megadeth guitarist on stage during "Peace Sells" while Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater played the drums. Shawn did one solo of the song; the night after the statements were released that Shawn's brother Glen had quit Megadeth and Glen recommended Chris Broderick as a possible replacement. Shawn proceeded to show Dave a video of Chris playing both classical and electric guitar. Dave was won over and soon managed to get in contact with Chris. Two weeks Broderick was declared the new guitarist for Megadeth; as opposed to many drummers, who cross over their sticks to play the hi-hat with their right hand and snare with their left hand, Shawn instead keeps time with his left hand, keeps a ride cymbal on the left side of his set, relegates his right hand for snare drum hits.
Although the role of each hand is reversed. This is known as "Open handed drumming". Shawn Drover is himself left-handed; as of 2015, Shawn Drover was Megadeth's longest-serving drummer, having been a member of the band for just over 10 years, had the third-longest tenure in the band after only bass guitarist David Ellefson and guitarist and frontman Dave Mustaine. On November 25, 2014 Drover announced his departure from Megadeth, wanting to pursue his own musical interests. Following his departure from Megadeth, Drover teamed up with Chris Broderick, who left Megadeth the same day as him, to form Act of Defiance with vocalist Henry Derek and bassist Matt Bachand, he resides near, has a wife, a daughter, a son, grandson. On May 5, the same date as his birthday, 2010, his first grandson was born. Shawn is College Football, his favorite team is the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is a huge NHL fan citing favorite teams such as the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburg Penguins, the Calgary Flames.
Shawn is an avid golfer as well, participates in several charitable golf events each year. Shawn Drover endorses Yamaha Drums, Evans Drumheads, Toca percussion, Extreme Isolation headphones and Pro-Mark Drumsticks; the "MegaKit" used on tours from 2004 through 2010 was manufactured by Ferguson Fabrication out of Tempe, Arizona. The structure was redesigned making the cage lighter and easier to assemble. Shawn from October 2006 to February 2014 endorsed the DDRUM maple kit and electronic DDRUM triggers with Sabian cymbals. Eidolon Megadeth Act of Defiance Zero Hour Seven Spirits Nightmare World Hallowed Apparition Coma Nation Apostles of Defiance The Parallel Otherworld Arsenal of Megadeth That One Night: Live in Buenos Aires United Abominations Endgame Rust in Peace Live The Big Four: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria Thirteen Super Collider Countdown to Extinction: Live Birth and the Burial Old Scars, News Wounds http://www.megadeth.com/ – Image
NightMare World
NightMare World are a Power Metal band from Birmingham, formed in 2006. In 2007 NightMare World recorded a 3-track EP at Thin Ice Stuios, it was engineered and mixed by Karl Groom of Threshold and was released in early 2009. All 3 tracks were reproduced on the band's debut album "In The Fullness Of Time"; the band began work on their debut album in early 2010 and chose to continue working with Karl Groom at Thin Ice Studios. The album was recorded over a period of 4 years and was mastered by Peter Van't Riet in April 2014. Shortly after, the band signed to Pure Steel Records and the album was released on 15 May 2015. NightMare World have stated on social media that they are writing a second full length studio album, they had stated that they would be recording with producer Chris Tsangarides who had worked with many high profile artists such as Judas Priest, Yngwie Malmsteen, Gary Moore and Thin Lizzy. However, since Tsangarides' death earlier this year it is unclear. Studio albumsIn The Fullness Of Time EP'sNo Regrets Official website
King Diamond
Kim Bendix Petersen, better known by his stage name King Diamond, is a Danish musician. As a vocalist, he is known in particular his usage of falsetto, he is the eponymous King Diamond. King Diamond's first heavy rock band was called Brainstorm, with Jeanette Blum vocal and bass, Michael Frohn guitar and Jes Jacobsen drums. King Diamond began singing with local Danish hard rock band Black Rose, it was during this time in Black Rose that King Diamond began experimenting with horror-themed theatrics as well as shaping a malevolent quasi-Satanic stage persona. He joined the punk-metal band Brats where he met Hank Shermann. Soon after, the two of them were asked to help Michael Denner with his own project Danger Zone; this band included Timi Hansen and the mentioned musicians would join with King Diamond in 1980 to become Mercyful Fate. Following Mercyful Fate's 1984 release of Don't Break the Oath and the subsequent tour, King Diamond split ways with Mercyful Fate. With him, he took two of his bandmates to pursue a solo career under his own name.
Mercyful Fate recorded five more studio albums. In 2000, King decided to continue on with his solo career. Though Mercyful Fate continues to remain dormant, the band is still under contract with Metal Blade Records. In 1999, King Diamond and Hank Shermann performed the song "Evil" live with Metallica; this performance featured King Diamond without his famous makeup. In recent interviews, King Diamond has stated that Mercyful Fate will record and tour again when the timing is right, saying "It's not finished." In 2001, King Diamond worked out a deal with the band Usurper to sing backup vocals on the song "Necronemesis" in exchange for them shifting their recording schedule around to accommodate the recording of Abigail II: The Revenge. In 2004, King Diamond contributed vocals to "Sweet Dreams", the final track on the album of Dave Grohl's heavy metal side project Probot. In late 2005, King Diamond appeared on the Roadrunner United – The All-Star Sessions album, contributing vocals for his song "In the Fire", which featured multiple Roadrunner Records musicians working together to create individual songs.
King Diamond guested on the Cradle of Filth song "Devil Woman" in late 2005. In April 2006, King reunited with Mikkey Dee at a sold-out gig at Kåren in Sweden. In 2001 King referred to Dee as "one of the best drummers of all time and that's something that has bothered us since he left."King Diamond released his album Give Me Your Soul... Please, on 26 June 2007. Following the release the band received a Grammy nomination in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the track "Never Ending Hill." He was forced to cancel a United States tour due to a herniated disk, causing severe back pain, which puts him in intense pain all of the time. He attributes the problem to the long stressful hours spent working on the album. King made an appearance at Ozzfest on 9 August 2008 at Frisco, TX alongside Metallica, performing a medley of Mercyful Fate songs released on Metallica's Garage Inc. album. Earlier in the day, he performed a cover of the Pantera song "A New Level" with Vinnie Paul, Scott Ian, Max Cavalera, Nick Bowcott.
In 2009, King Diamond was revealed to be a playable character for the rhythm game Guitar Hero: Metallica, appearing with Mercyful Fate's song "Evil." Complete the song on any instrument and any difficulty to unlock him. On 29 November 2010, King was taken to the hospital, where they discovered several blockages in his arteries due to his heavy smoking habit, they determined that he needed triple-bypass surgery. The surgery was performed and on 11 December 2010 it was announced that he was at home recovering. All his musical projects at that time were placed on hold. On 7 December 2011, King appeared on stage with Metallica at The Fillmore in San Francisco to celebrate Metallica's 30th anniversary. In June 2012, King performed his comeback concert, on Sweden Rock Festival. On Saturday 8 September 2012, King appeared along with Mark Tremonti on VH1 Classic's That Metal Show discussing his surgery and various details about upcoming events. King appeared on Volbeat's 2013 album, Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies, for guest vocals on the track "Room 24."
In August 2013 King Diamond performed at Open Air Bloodstock Festival UK. Slayer was chosen to headline the 2015 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival; the bands HELLYEAH, King Diamond, The Devil Wears Prada, Thy Art Is Murder, Jungle Rot, Sister Sin, Sworn In, Shattered Sun, Feed Her To The Sharks, Code Orange & Kissing Candice will be participating in the Rockstar Tour. The festival is slated for 26 stops to run from June 26 through August 2. King Diamond was a special celebrity guest star in four episodes of the Warner Bros. adult-oriented cartoon Metalocalypse as The Blues Devil, Ronald von Moldenberg, a fast food manager, one of the Klokateers in 2006 on Adult Swim. On stage, King Diamond uses a microphone handle consisting of a femur bone and a tibia bone in the shape of a cross. King Diamond had used a human skull, called Melissa, on stage. In the mid-1980s Melissa was stolen after a performance in the Netherlands. King Diamond has changed the design of his make-up over the years. With Conspiracy, he wore a mesh of black and white line war paint, with some red "blood" made to look like a wound coming o
