This has been a terrible week of news in our region and sadly I must continue the process by informing our readers that Mitch Lucker, lead singer of Suicide Silence has died. His death comes from injuries that were sustained during a motorcycle accident – He was 29 years of age and he leaves behind a wife and daughter, his band mates of many years and his worldwide support of fans. Clearly he will be missed.

On behalf of the PiercingMetal site, we send condolences to all who loved him and thank him for the music that he gave his fans and the world. Rest In Peace Mitchell.

UPDATE 11/7/2012: A fund has been set up in order to help his daughter’s education going forward and fans can investigate that by clicking this link: http://www.suicidesilence.net/donate/ Those who donate $20 or more will receive a special memorial shirt for their kindness.

A young Swedish singer by the name of Tommy Karevik has officially been selected as the new singer of one of our favorite bands here at the PiercingMetal Command HQ and of course you long time readers should know that I am speaking of the one and only Kamelot.  Karevik is a member of the Swedish Metal band called Seventh Wonder, and while I think that I might have one of their CD’s in my massive library, I do not recall them off the top of my head. This is not a slight at all, but just the sign that we have far too much music at our fingertips in this collection of mine.

I’ve been a fan of Kamelot since I first got my attention turned to them back in 2005 and while they were around for a few years before that, I caught up on their earlier stuff and always tried to be on point when they would visit our region because I just enjoyed them so much. It was horrible to find their singer Khan leaving for personal reasons a couple of years ago because I felt he was such an amazing presence, but lucky for the Metal fans of the world, this would not be the end of the band and they would soon enough press on with Rhapsody Of Fire’s Fabio Leone on vocals for their touring commitments. After seeing them deliver the goods together in NYC last year I will admit that I was one of the many people who had hoped that Leone would be offered the position in Kamelot and bring the bands next chapter. Obviously this would not be the case.

Online quotes from founder/guitarist Thomas Youngblood cite “We had around 800 candidates for the vacant position, among them a number of really renowned musicians, and having to reject them really wasn’t easy. We want to thank all the applicants, thank you for your understanding and we wish you all lots of success in the future! (on YouTube) “I listened to a clip of a studio production featuring Tommy and have to confess that his performance really amazed me. His approach to melodies and themes suits Kamelot perfectly, and during our European shows we had plenty of opportunity to find out what a great guy he is.”

Since Thomas referenced some YouTube clips, I went online and did the same thing to get a quick refresher course in what Mr. Karevik brings to the Metal table and I will say that he does sound pretty damn good.  He just might be the perfect fit for Kamelot but of course only time will tell if the larger fan base will embrace him in the lineup as he aims to execute their much loved tunes.  Either way, I wish him the very best of luck and will surely be on point supporting the band when they return to our region so I can bring the scoop to our readers.   Apparently he will remain a member of Seventh Wonder as well which will be interesting to see if its possible given Kamelot’s rigorous touring schedule.

Back at the beginning of the month I posted a blog narrative which spoke to the developments that had been going on within the Queensryche camp and touched upon the issues that were brewing with their founding member, vocalist Geoff Tate. You can read HERE first if you need a little bit of refresher. It was not a pleasant set of circumstances to say the least. Here are the latest developments….

Queensryche members have announced that Todd LaTorre is their new singer after officially parting ways with Geoff Tate. I’m really of mixed opinion on all of this because I love Geoff as a legendary Metal vocalist and really enjoy what I have heard Todd bring to the table as a member of Crimson Glory and in his samples of the classic Queensryche tunes. I really never wanted to see it come down to this because it also divides the fans in some sense. One has to envision this as similar to the time when the world saw Tim “Ripper” Owens taking over the vocals in Priest. The band did record some solid tunes but they really suffered as far as attendance and album sales.

As a fan of Geoff’s overall creativity and legacy I wish him well, and as a very longtime fan of what Queensryche has meant to the Heavy Metal music scene I wish the guys well in this interesting new chapter. I don’t think I ever mentioned to my readers that I first saw Queensryche when they had opened up for KISS on the “Animalize” tour back in 1984 or 85. They were brand new to the larger Metal audiences back then for sure.

Read more on the Bravewords report from Billboard.com HERE; Let’s see what happens. I expect a veritable shit storm of postings on all of the news sites and many already feel we shall find more postings on these resources than we found happening when Mike Portnoy decided to leave Dream Theater. Only time will tell right?

Time flies doesn’t it? Perhaps I said that last year when the first anniversary came to pass. I think that I might have and while I was initially on the fence about posting a two year reflection about the passing of Ronnie James Dio, when the day started out I decided that I should. Let’s face it. Ronnie James Dio became one of the most important figures in Heavy Metal music ever. Without question or controversy, he was the man, and one of the most visible champions of the genre that we have ever had in our corner. His death crushed many and he is missed every single day by his worldwide legions of fans. Since he passed away a whole lot of stuff has popped up in terms of releases or bands touring in his memory. We’ve found unreleased classic shows and limited edition vinyl releases along with special edition versions of some of his work with Rainbow, Elf and of course Dio. A Tribute To Dio band called “Dio Disciples” tours with Ripper Owens at the helm and now a new band that features members of Dio’s first solo touring band are working on unleashing their own thing and I am sure that we have not seen nothing yet.

Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Since Ronnie’s death another interesting development was the proposed reunion of the original members of Black Sabbath but now that seems to be a questionable project since it no longer involves the founding Bill Ward. I know that Geezer and Tony didn’t want to continue on with Heaven And Hell without Ronnie at the helm, but I so wish they would have just opted to find someone who would do proper respect to the man and his memory and let these tunes be heard night after night in live concert instead of only being pulled out of the DVD cabinet every now and again. Still I am glad I own the catalog items that I have and I was so glad to have taken photos of him in concert a few times when the means allowed me to do so. Those are my memories. What are your own?

Clicking the photo above will take you to the original memorial blog posting that ran on PiercingMetal Musings the day that Ronnie passed away. I chose to present it to you in this manner as opposed to just making it a “sticky” on the top of the other posts. Please note that the comments have been closed on this particular posting but you can leave any thoughts you might have about Dio on the original memorial piece if you so desire. We welcome your own thoughts about his memory and his continuing influence upon the Heavy Metal scene. So many of us miss him still and wonder how the last two years in Metal might have been had he not been ill or at least been able to recover. Oh well. There is nothing we can do to change the outcome that we got, but let’s blast the Metal music a little bit louder today and never ever forget what Dio gave to us for so many decades of his life.

Has it been a year already?

Well yes I guess it has and its probably safe to say that the worlds Metal and Hard Rock fans will forever remember where they were and what they were doing when they first learned that singer Ronnie James Dio had passed away. This comes from the amazing importance that his very being meant to the music community and just how vital he was to its positive growth with not only his music and creativity but also in the way that he carried himself in the public eye. I have yet to meet a Metal head who didn’t love almost everything that Dio stood for. One cannot question this stance because the musician was nothing short of prolific in his body of work and he impressed everyone again and again.

The Metal Republic had already been having a bad year as only a month before Ronnie died we had lost Type O Negative’s Peter Steele.  Recovery had slowly begun from that news but when word was made official about Ronnie being gone there was not a Heavy Metal fan anywhere in the world that didn’t feel a cold numbness taking them over.  For many fans this man was the pre-eminent legend and his being taken from us was a cruel reminder of just how human our idols truly were.   The realization that the same ills that befall us all can even take away those who bring us peace of mind stung like nothing ever felt before.   Of course Ronnie would leave us with an amazing body of work with Rainbow, Dio, Black Sabbath and Heaven & Hell so he would live forever on in our musical mind.  His passing would lead to the formation of a record label by his wife Wendy and through this the Metal world would be able to enjoy historical releases and material never before seen or heard before.

On the day of his passing I composed a memorial narrative in his honor.  I touched upon all the aspects of his career that I experienced as a fan and featured many photos that I had taken when seeing him in action.  Clicking the photo of Ronnie above will take you to that original piece and its bevy of comments from the Metal community.  We welcome your thoughts to those words and ask that if you are compelled to add your own views that you do it on that original memorial so they can add to what is already present and give it the maximum power.   I’m sure Ronnie is rocking out with the likes of Steele, Hendrix and Moon and probably comparing notes with Morrison, Harrison and Lennon.  The great beyond was already rocking based on its populace but for a year now it has been getting a healthy dose of Metal input from the master.  I’d like to think that he was there to welcome the other Metal names that passed on after him as well.

\m/ Long Live Dio \m/

Insert boos here (and I mean for the circumstance and not for my stating them).

OK so WOW!  If ever there was a reason for this “Heavy Metal Holy Sh*t” Category it would be this occurrence.  For the few short years that I have been a music journalist and man on the Metal scene, I have found the band Kamelot to be one of my very favorites.  I first went to see them as a “favor” to a label friend who needed an interview and I dragged a buddy along.   Since that time I have done my best to not miss a regional appearance if at all possible.  They were one of the bands that made me feel that this adventure of mine was not as much work as it often seemed to be.  So where we were.  Okay, to continue.

In the almost Fall of 2010 the group had finally booked a US Tour after massive festival appearances and this had a stop in NYC over at the Nokia Theatre (which has since been rechristened the Best Buy Theater).  The band was going to use this show as a celebration of their new album “Poetry For The Poisoned” and the tour was to also feature Leaves Eyes, Blackguard and another band that I cannot recall at this time.  As the date closed in on the fans and tickets were almost completely sold out the news came up that Khan had fallen ill and was not going to be making the tour.   The announcements came quickly from founding guitarist Thomas Youngblood who stated that Kamelot would press on just the same and employ the talents of Michael Eriksen from the Norwegian band Circus Maximus.  The singer performed at one gig, which was the ProgPower USA event in Georgia and then the sad news about the entire tour being cancelled came to pass.

That sucked.  It was terrible for fans, but it was also terrible for all the people that earn their living doing the tours like this as now they had free time and would need to scramble to recoup the lost earnings.  Of course on the upside the band told us that they would return when Khan was feeling better and then give us the show of a lifetime.  Well, something like that was going around.  Fast forward a few months.

Very early in 2011 the new dates for a Kamelot US Tour were announced and this time around the band was going to be playing at Gramercy Theatre as opposed to the Best Buy Theater and that struck me as odd because the spaces are vastly different in terms of how many bodies fit inside them.  Best Buy holds around 2200 while Gramercy hits capacity at 650.  Then the worst part of the news was announced.

“Khan would be missing this tour as he was still ill”

What?  This makes no sense!  How is he still ill after many months of rest and just what the hell was plaguing the singer?   His fans wanted to know but no one seemed to be talking.  The world had lost Ronnie James Dio to cancer and Peter Steele to a heart attack last year and only recently Nergal from Behemoth was fighting leukemia so I had to admit that the thoughts going on in the minds of the Metal Republic were nothing short of grim.  Fortunately more news came to pass from the ProgPower USA Promoter Glen Harveston who released his thoughts across the interwebs about the whole situation.  I’ve pasted some of this here for your eager eyes so read on:

I 100% agree that Roy was and is an integral part of Kamelot’s success over the past 12 years. However, the band has been backed into a corner with no easy way out. The band has done everything in its power to accommodate Roy despite his abrupt decision to pull out of everything and cause all members to lose a substantial amount of money. They have given him multiple options in regards to returning and continuing the band. Need a year? No problem. Need two years? No problem. Just give us something so we can schedule and confirm things. *Silence*

It’s not happening. Khan is not in coma or mental institution screaming “BURNOUT!!!.” He has simply found religion and the music world is just a distant memory now. The band is no longer his priority. I may take some heat for this, but I don’t think the fans are either at the moment. If they were, he would issue a statement clarifying things so that grieving process for his fans could commence and eventually complete. Could that change in a few years? Absolutely. However, it may not. Fans need to accept that and move on. Is the band suppose to simply wait on the sidelines indefinitely in the meantime and see all their efforts wasted?

I didn’t notice any flack being tossed at Harveston for making such a statement so perhaps there were solid elements of truth to it.  It made sense to many that he would have an insider’s look to the band after having been so much a part of their success in this part of the world.  Either  way that you looked at it, this information sucked as far as I was concerned for the Kamelot camp.  This statement was soon followed by the news that Khan had indeed quit the Kamelot lineup and that they would continue on with another singer in his place once a suitable replacement had been found.  For the duration they would do their US Tour with Fabio Leone of the band Rhapsody Of Fire.   What????  I’m going to toss my own views out now because while I love what Fabio can do as a singer, there is no way that he is a suitable fill in or maybe even an eventual replacement for Khan right?  I guess only time will tell and I made sure to mark down this date for the concert so I can check it out for myself. I would be lying to you if I didn’t mention that this news really depressed me because I totally enjoyed how Khan worked in this band and just how magical the whole thing seemed with him at the microphone.  If religious pursuits were really the culprit of his leaving that made no sense to me since Kamelot was not singing about the kind of things that a band like Gorgoroth did and while mystical in some sense were hardly blasphemous. If he truly burned out from the pace then I wish him the best of health and thank him for his years of amazing contributions to a band I list as a favorite. He shall be missed for sure. Sigh.

Even though this is new and disturbing news to the fans of Kamelot we also have to remember that he was the second singer in the band and that often these things are never permanent.  Dickinson and Halford left Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and now are back in command of those bands so who knows.  Rock and Roll is a very interesting thing and always seems to surprise us with all of its happenings. At this stage of the game I do not think that Thomas Youngblood, Casey Grillo, Oliver Palotai and Sean Tibbetts will let us down and instead hold a steady course and deliver us a kick ass Metal show. Good luck guys just the same.

Check out the Kamelot coverage on PiercingMetal’s core site HERE.

It’s been a year since the sad news about Peter Steele’s passing hit the Metal Republic and I have to say that it seemed to be the kick off to a number of other bad turns of events.  While none of the musical deaths that preceded Peter’s were any less important, his own passing set off a shock wave in the underground Metal scene where Type O Negative were kings and really left a lot of fans shocked and dismayed.  The band was obviously over and done with now that the principal song writer was dead and while members Hickey and Kelly would continue on with their side project Seventh Void, the chapter on Type O Negative was one that had apparently closed in the book of Metal music history.   Research had found that no unreleased music was left lying around, but perhaps some historically relevant video would surface for the fans to enjoy.

A little over a month after Peter had passed away the world would lose the mighty Ronnie James Dio but thoughts about his passing are better discussed in the narrative that is dedicated to his illustrious career.   When Peter was gone and the word was confirmed as truth instead of another cruel jest; a memorial posting was made in the Official PiercingMetal.com blog.  With the First Anniversary of his passing being today I wanted to revisit those thoughts which can be read by clicking the photo above.  Comments about The Man are continually welcome by those who enjoyed his music as much as we did but we ask that you please leave them on the original memorial posting as opposed to here for greater impact.  We miss ya Peter and hope you are rocking with the likes of Hendrix, Bonham and many, many more.

Peter’s Alembic bass guitar is now a part of Hard Rock Cafe historic pieces and at the time of this first anniversary could be viewed in one of the establishments windows.   When I learned that it was at this location I made sure to snap a couple of photos for proper use in these thoughts.

The words they showcased seemed to hit the nail on the head for me, so I was happy with how they were presented.  Don’t mind any spots on the image as there was a torrential rainstorm happening around me when I did this.

Kudos to the Hard Rock Cafe brand for realizing that Peter Steele and Type O Negative are worthy of inclusion among your legendary ranks of artifacts.  While the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will likely remain forever clueless and leave a band like this one out of its “honors”, its great to see that some others actually understand and appreciate such a vital musician.   I thank you as a decades deep fan of Steele’s music.

I’ve been a fan of Motley Crue for the longest time and have always enjoyed what they do in concert when I am fortunate enough to be a part of their wild shows as a member of the Metal media.  Right now the band is doing other things and finding its members recording with other people, writing books and releasing solo albums which brings me to this show by their singer Vince Neil.   He had recently released a great collection of covers under the title “Tattoos and Tequila” and I had to say that while the premise of such a release had come to bore me, this one was a killer and one of the most fun of the summer releases.  His tour would make a stop at recently re-christened Irving Plaza and my full report can be enjoyed by clicking the logo below.  That will take you over to the main PiercingMetal.com website.

 

I can hardly believe the words myself, but yes, the news is indeed true and the Metal world has lost one of its most inspiring titans as Ronnie James Dio, The Godfather Of Heavy has died at age 67.  Back in November of 2009 it was reported that Ronnie had been diagnosed with stomach cancer and he quickly began to get treated for it and according to most reports was on the mend if not a little worse for wear from the treatments.  Sadly, the battle that this brave warrior king would fight would not be all that long and he would succumb to the illness and pass from this plane on Sunday morning 5/16/2010.

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It is with incredible sadness that I try to wrap my head around the loss of Type O Negative’s Peter Steele who passed away last night  4/14/2010 at around 6pm.   The news broke rather quickly thanks to the likes of Twitter, Facebook & MySpace, but in the early stages of the information there was a strong belief that the rumors of his death were highly exaggerated.   This mindset was initially in place based on the fact that the singer had been reported dead back in 2005 but after a few days the world realized that they had been punked.  Sadly there would be no sigh of relief this time around and when very reliable sources in his camp confirmed it all to be true we would learn the brutal fact that in the end it was heart failure that took this giant of the Metal scene away from us.  He was 48 years old.

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