Warner Music Group Intends to Buy French Digital Music Company Believe SA, Owner of Nuclear Blast Records and Tunecore


One of the largest record labels in the world, Warner Music Group (WMG) has announced it intends to purchase Believe SA, a French digital music company. Among the many companies Believe owns includes a controlling stake in Nuclear Blast Records (acquired in 2018) and its offshoot Blood Blast Distribution, as well as Tunecore a Brooklyn, New York–based digital music distribution, publishing and licensing service founded in 2006. Tunecore distributes music through online retailers such as iTunes, Deezer, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Google Play, Tidal, Beatport. According to the press release you can read below, Warner “would provide Believe with strategic support and financial stability to help the development and growth of the Company, including by accelerating its expansion into new geographies.” Nuclear Blast founded in 1987 in Germany, is home to some of the greatest bands in Metal such as, Slayer, Anthrax, Testament, C.O.C., Nightwish, Sepultura, Sabaton, In Flames, Lamb of God (Europe), and countless others. In addition to their legendary main brand known for Rock, Pop, Country, and Dance music, WMG owns a ton of sub labels boasting some of the biggest names in Hard Rock, Metal and Punk like 10K Projects, 300 Entertainment (Highly Suspect, Waterparks), Asylum, Atlantic (Shinedown, Halestorm) Big Beat, Elektra Entertainment (formerly: Metallica, Slipknot & Paramore – current: twenty one pilots, Brandi Carlile, Sturgill Simpson) Erato, First Night, Fueled By Ramen (Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World, A Day To Remember), Nonesuch, Parlophone (Iron Maiden), Reprise (Lamb of God in the USA, Deftones, Disturbed, Crosses), Rhino (boxed sets, vinyl and CD reissues, and countless legacy releases), Roadrunner (Gojira, Turnstile, Motionless In White, Trivium, newly signed Deafheaven, Coheed and Cambria, Stone Sour), Sire, Spinnin’, Warner Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville. WMG’s music publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, as well as artist management and services divisions. If the sale goes through, it remains to be seen what shape the deal would have and what impact is might have for Nuclear Blast and Tunecore. Stay tuned for more news on this story.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Cavalera – Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions


 

Okay, so it was decided that Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions (Nuclear Blast) were to be plucked from the Sepultura catalog for re-recording by founding members Max and Igor Cavalera. Can we all agree on that? Great. Now legions of fans will pound and holler about “we already have those available on CD and on streaming.” Then the other side of the audience moans about the Cavalera siblings being greedy or some such shit.

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CONCERT REVIEW: Theory of A Deadman – Skillet – Saint Asonia Live at Roadrunner Boston


 

The Rock Resurrection tour featuring Theory of a Deadman, Skillet, and Saint Asonia rolled into Boston at one of the city’s newest concert venues, Roadrunner. The show was sold out well in advance, so there was a long line of concert attendees, waiting to make their way into the building. As the crowd gathered towards the stage eagerly awaiting the start of the first band.

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CONCERT REVIEW: Trivium – Between The Buried And Me – Whitechapel – Khemmis Live at Palladium Times Square


 

I was elated to hear the announcement of Trivium’s “Deadmen and Dragons” tour because it screamed nostalgia to me: three of four bands emerged in my personal golden era of musical discovery (early 2000s); add to that Khemmis, spirited doom-metallers who I’ve never seen live, I knew it would be spectacular. Continue reading


Watch Machine Head to Perform “Unto The Locust” in Full on Their Livestream


Machine Head performed their entire Unto The Locust (Roadrunner Records) album to celebrate its 10th anniversary today, Friday, September 24th, 2021. The band performs its “Acoustic Happy Hour” livestream every Friday on the bands’ YouTube, and Facebook, as well as frontman Robb Flynn’s Twitch account. Watch it now!

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Machine Head to Perform All of Their “Unto The Locust” Album on Their Weekly Livestream


 

Machine Head will perform their entire Unto The Locust (Roadrunner Records) album to celebrate its 10th anniversary this Friday, September 24th, 2021. The band performs its “Acoustic Happy Hour” livestream every Friday on the bands’ YouTube, and Facebook, as well as frontman Robb Flynn’s Twitch account. Watch the teaser trailer and check out a message from the band.

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Watch Machine Head Play “Burn My Eyes” with the BME 25 Line-Up on Their Livestream


This weekend (August 9th) marked the 27th anniversary of Machine Head’s debut album, Burn My Eyes (Roadrunner Records). To celebrate, the Burn My Eyes 25 lineup reunited at the bands’ Bay Area reheasal and livestream studio to perform the album in its entirety on their weekly livestream. Robb Flynn and Jared MacEachern will be joined by BME-era drummer Chris Kontos and guitarist Logan Mader, who performed on the entire 2 year BME world-tour, for the livestream. Last week Robb and Jared played all of The Burning Red. The band performs its “Acoustic Happy Hour” livestream every Friday on the bands’ YouTube, and Facebook, as well as Robb’s Twitch account. Watch the teaser and check out our retrospective review here.

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Machine Head to Play of All “Burn My Eyes” On This Weekend’s Livestream


This weekend marks the 27th anniversary of Machine Head’s landmark debut album, Burn My Eyes (Roadrunner Records). To celebrate, the band will perform the album in its entirety on their weekly livestream. Robb Flynn and Jared MacEachern will be joined by BME-era drummer Chris Kontos and guitarist Logan Mader, who performed on the entire 2 year BME world-tour, for the livestream, and you can see a teaser video the band shared promoting the stream below. Last week Robb and Jared played all of The Burning Red. The band performs its “Acoustic Happy Hour” livestream every Friday on the bands’ YouTube, and Facebook, as wel las Robb’s Twitch account. Watch the teaser and check out our retrospective review here.

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Corey Taylor’s New Single ‘CMFT Must Be Stopped’ ft. Tech N9ne and Kid Bookie Due Out This Week


Corey Taylor will release the first music from his debut solo album on Wednesday, July 29. According to Spotify, the Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman will unveil two songs, “Black Eyes Blue” and “CMFT Must Be Stopped”, the latter of which features hip-hop artists Tech N9ne and Kid Bookie. Taylor previously worked with Tech N9ne on a song called “Wither” in 2015, and with Kid Bookie on a reworked version of the rapper’s track “Stuck In My Ways” last year. Taylor’s album is due in September via Roadrunner with his band consisting of Jason Christopher on bass, Dustin Schoenhofer on drums, and Zach Throne and Christian Martucci (Stone Sour) on guitar.Continue reading