In support of their latest album, Finnish goth rockers The 69 Eyes are bringing their Death of Darkness Tour to the U.S. this spring! The opening acts will be The Bites and Budderside. Grab your tickets and VIP meet-and-greets at 69eyes.com!
In early November, Sammy Hagar announced “The Best of All Worlds” Tour, featuring himself, Michael Anthony, Jason Bonham, and Joe Satriani. The tour arrives on the heels of the release of The Collection II, the box set of newly remastered versions of four consecutive #1 albums from Van Halen (5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and Balance.
Hagar, Anthony, Bonham, and Satriani will be playing hits from Van Halen’s vast arsenal. They have also invited Australian musician Rai Thistlethwayte along on keyboards and backing vocals. Loverboy will be their opening act.
Rock band Extreme, who reached the height of their popularity with the release of their ballad “More Than Words,” is touring in early 2024. Living Colour (“Cult of Personality”) will be the opening act. Tickets and VIP available at both extreme-band.com and livingcolour.com.
1/24 – Englewood, NJ – Bergen Performing Arts Center
1/26 – Ledyard, CT – Foxwoods Resort Casino
1/27 – Atlantic City, NJ – IMAX Theatre at Tropicana
1/28 – Manchester, NH – Angel City Music Hall Bar & Eatery LLC
1/30 – Rochester, NY – Kodak Center
2/1 – Richmond, VA – The National
2/2 – Ranson, WV – Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races
2/3 – Northfield, OH – MGM Northfield Park
2/4 – Flint, MI – The Machine Shop
2/6 – Munhall, PA – Carnegie Library of Homestead
2/7 – Indianapolis, IN – Old National Centre
2/8 – Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge
2/9 – St. Louis, MO – River City Casino
2/10 – New Buffalo, MI – Four Winds Casino Resort
2/13 – Wichita, KS – The Cotillion Ballroom
2/14 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
2/16 – Quapaw, OK – Downstream Casino Resort
2/17 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues Dallas
2/19 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater
2/20 – Houston, TX – House of Blues Houston
2/23 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
2/24 – Indio, CA – Fantasy Springs Resort Casino
2/25 – Wheatland, CA – Hard Rock Live Sacramento
2/27 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Fremont Theater
2/28 – Los Angeles, CA – The Bellwether
2/29 – Las Vegas, NV – The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
Extreme will be appearing on the 2024 Monsters of Rock Cruise, which takes place March 2nd through the 7th.
Update:Due to overwhelming demand, the show in Dallas on 11/3 has been moved from Sundown to the Granada Theater, and is now all ages as well!
Horror punk band Murderdolls’ debut album, Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls, turns 21 this year! In celebration of this anniversary, frontman Wednesday 13 is hitting the road to perform songs from their first record, as well as their second and final release, Women and Children Last (2010). Wednesday’s touring lineup for this run includes Murderdolls’ alumni Roman Surman and Jack Tankersley.
The supporting acts are Gemini Syndrome, Infected Rain, and Black Satellite.
You may remember my mentioning Shadow Reborn back in May, when I wrote this review of their EP, Realm of the Wicked. Well, I’m here to insist, again, that you check out this band!
Shadow Reborn is from Florida and offers all the glitz and glam of the 80s hair metal era with the darker macabre element of bands such as The 69 Eyes, Type O Negative, and Lacrimosa. A self-proclaimed theatrical goth metal act, this quintet has time traversing imagery, lyrics that delve straight into the human psyche, heavy riffs, and catchy anthemic choruses. Thus far, they have released two EPs – Intricacies (2015) and Realm of the Wicked (2022) – and several singles.
Below are my favorite track from Shadow Reborn, as well as their most recent single, and links to their socials. Be sure to follow them to keep up with any news, show announcements, and/or music releases.
My favorite. This song is the fifth track on Intricacies.
“Her Mortal Embrace” was released in 2021 and appears on Realm of the Wicked.
Update:The show on 11/14 has been moved from Racine, WI, to Belvedere, IL, at the Apollo Theatre!
Horror punk band Murderdolls’ debut album, Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls, turns 21 this year! In celebration of this anniversary, frontman Wednesday 13 is hitting the road to perform songs from their first record, as well as their second and final release, Women and Children Last (2010). Wednesday’s touring lineup for this run includes Murderdolls’ alumni Roman Surman and Jack Tankersley.
The supporting acts are Gemini Syndrome, Infected Rain, and Black Satellite.
This is far from a comprehensive list, of course, but here are five bands I’ve discovered from the neue Deutsche härte genre that don’t get nearly enough recognition in the U.S.
1. Oomph!
Formed in 1989, Oomph! actually pioneered the neue Deutsche härte movement, according to some sources The thing I really love about them is the fact that they change a little (sometimes a lot) every couple of albums. They started with a more electronic/dance/industrial sound, but they quickly morphed into guitar-driven rock/metal. Several bands that came after drew inspiration from Oomph!, including – most notably – Rammstein.
From the self-titled record released in 1992
From GlaubeLiebeTod (2006)
From XXV (2015)
2. Eisbrecher
I actually discovered Eisbrecher years ago, but I didn’t know the band’s name. My best friend had their song “Wilkommen im Nichts” downloaded to her computer, and I loved it. Later, I searched for the song, found that it was by Eisbrecher, and went down the rabbit hole. I bought a copy of their 2010 release Eiszeit and I’ve been a fan ever since.
From the self-titled record (2004)
From Eiszeit (2010)
From Liebe machtMonster (2021)
3. Stahlmann
I found Stahlmann after I’d begun listening to Eisbrecher (and obsessing over the track “Wir Sind Wir” by Paul van Dyk and Peter Heppner). I think at that point I was simply looking for similar bands because I really enjoy the genre. The first song I remember hearing by Stahlmann was “Schwarz.”
From the self-titled record (2010)
From CO2 (2015)
From Quarz (2021)
4. Erdling
Erdling was founded in 2014 by Neill Freiwald and Niklas Kahl. They are a blend of heavier rock and neue Deutsche härte. I remember listening to “Mein Element” and really being able to hear the Rammstein influence.
From Aus den Tiefen (2016)
From Yggdrasil (2020)
From Bestia (2023)
5. Die Kreatur
Die Kreatur is a project formed by Chris Harms (Lord of the Lost) and Dero Goi (Oomph!). The two artists had made guest appearances on tracks for each other’s bands, and they finally decided to merge into a separate entity. The project meshes together the more gothic metal sound of Lord of the Lost with the neue Deutsche härte elements that started with Oomph! Thus far, they have only released one album, entitled Panoptikum, but here’s hoping there will be more from them in the future!
Update: Two shows have been added in southern California – 10/21 in Ventura and 10/22 in San Diego. Tickets for these dates go on sale Friday, 8/25.
Black Veil Brides and Ville Valo will be sharing the stage this fall alongside special guest Dark Divine. Tickets are available at blackveilbrides.net, Ville Valo’s Bandsintown, or dark-divine.com. Black Veil Brides are also offering VIP experiences!
9/10 – Louisville, KY – Old Forester’s Paristown Hall
9/11 – Birmingham, AL – Avondale Brewing Company
9/12 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
9/14 – North Myrtle Beach, SC – House of Blues
9/15 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live!
9/16 – Niagara Falls, NY – The Rapids Theatre
9/17 – Toronto, ON – HISTORY
9/19 – Montreal, QC – MTELUS
9/20 – Hampton Beach, NH – Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
9/22 – Wallingford, CT – Toyota Oakdale Theatre
9/23 – Bethlehem, PA – Wind Creek Event Center
9/24 – Montclair, NJ – The Wellmont Theater
9/25 – Huntington, NY – The Paramount
9/27 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Monroe
9/28 – Gary, IN – Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana
9/29 – Columbus, OH – KEMBA Live!
9/30 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
10/1 – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory
10/3 – Austin, TX – 3TEN Austin City Limits Live
10/5 – Tulsa, OK – Brady Theater
10/6 – Omaha, NE – Steelhouse Omaha
10/7 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee
10/9 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre
10/11 – Edmonton, AB – Edmonton Convention Centre
10/12 – Calgary, AB – Grey Eagle Event Centre
10/14 – Vancouver, BC – Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre
10/15 – Spokane, WA – The Podium
10/16 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
10/18 – Garden City, ID – Revolution Concert House
10/19 – Wheatland, CA – Hard Rock Live
10/20 – Riverside, CA – Riverside Municipal Auditorium
10/21 – Ventura, CA – Majestic Ventura Theater (New date!)
10/22 – San Diego, CA – Soma San Diego (New date!)
Mostly Music 