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Dee Snider has spoken out against sweeping, severe anti-abortion laws and bills that are being passed in Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri. Over the past few months, several states have pursued "heartbeat" bills — legislation that would ban abortion as soon as a physician is able to detect a fetal heartbeat. The TWISTED SISTER frontman weighed in on the issued while speaking to Yahoo Entertainment about "Who Will Rock You?", an online, "American Idol"-style battle of the bands competition, sponsored by Topgolf, on which he serves as a tough but fair judge. "My days dealing with that are numbered," admitted Snider, who has been married to the same woman for 38 years and is the 63-year-old father of four adult children. "I mean, I don't have to deal with that. I'm beyond it. I had my vas deferens snipped, so there's no chance! I have no concern about that. I've got medical care; I don't need Planned Parenthood. But there was a time when I did, when I was a kid, and I didn't have any of those things. And it upsets me that this is taking away from people as an option, because it's not just about terminating pregnancies. The majority of what Planned Parenthood does, an organization like that, is give people guidance and information. And so, it's just such a much bigger picture, and it drives me crazy, but mainly for my children. I have grandchildren now. And I'm thinking about the world that they're growing up in, and it's a mess." The abortion restrictions have not taken effect yet, and abortion is still legal in all 50 states. But they are part of a conservative strategy to get a case in front of the Supreme Court, where anti-abortion advocates hope the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion will be overturned. Last week, a number of celebrities — including musicians like Lady Gaga and Rihanna — expressed their outrage over the abortion debate, with the former saying that "it is an outrage to ban abortion in Alabama period, and all the more heinous that it excludes those [who] have been raped or are experiencing incest non-consensual or not. So there's a higher penalty for doctors who perform these operations than for most rapists? This is a travesty and I pray for all these women and young girls who will suffer at the hands of this system." Back in June 2016, Snider said that he was definitely "a pro-choice guy. To me that is, if you are not pro-choice, I am not for you. If you can't say that a woman has a right to choose — by the way, it's not that a woman should have an abortion or shouldn't have an abortion. It's they should choose for themselves, and not have a bunch of old white men telling them what to do with their bodies." […]

Ian Hill has denied Tim "Ripper" Owens's recent claim that the singer's time with JUDAS PRIEST has been intentionally "erased" from the band's history, Owens joined PRIEST in 1996 after being discovered when the band's drummer was given a videotape of him performing with the PRIEST cover band BRITISH STEEL. JUDAS PRIEST at the time was seeking a replacement for Rob Halford, who has since rejoined the band. Owens recorded two studio albums with JUDAS PRIEST — 1997's "Jugulator" and 2001's "Demolition" — before Halford's return to the group. Tim recently told "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" that he was a little miffed by the fact that fans cannot find the music that he made with PRIEST on any of the music-streaming services or other online retailers. "My issue is I would like to buy the records," he said. "I'd like to buy some to even sell when I'm touring solo, but you can't when they're kind of gone. And that's only the thing I talk about… If they were out there, I could maybe buy 'em at cost and sell 'em at my concerts. That would be kind of cool. Then I'd have my whole catalog." Asked in a new interview with "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" if the unavailability of the Owens-era PRIEST albums is a rights-related issue or if it is a deliberate attempt to bury that part of PRIEST's past, Hill said (hear audio below): "It's an odd one, really, because there's some good material on both of those albums. And Ripper is a terrific vocalist, and he did a tremendous job on 'Jugulator' and 'Demolition' And why they're not for sale has got nothing to do with us — put it like that. Whether it's a contractual thing between Sony and whoever owns the copyrights to those albums, I don't know. But it is a shame, because there's some good material there. And as a band, it's still JUDAS PRIEST. I know it wasn't the trademark lineup, but it was still JUDAS PRIEST nonetheless. So, it's disappointing — if that's true that the material is not available. It really is." Owens told "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" that he would possibly re-record the material from "Jugulator" and "Demolition" and release it independently under his own name. He explained: "I would only do it because you can't buy [the original records]. You can't get 'Jugulator' unless you find a used copy. But I probably wouldn't. First of all, I've gotta have time to do it. I do play it live, so I'd probably record it in the U.K. with my band. SANDSTONE is there, from Ireland — I'd probably do it with those guys, 'cause they already know almost the whole both records. But that's the only reason I would do it, so those songs could be bought again." He also lamented the fact that the current version of PRIEST has never performed any songs from his time with the group. […]

CHEVELLE is preparing to enter the studio to begin recording its new album. "We go in in [about] a week to start tracking," frontman Pete Loeffler told Ronni Hunter of the 99.7 The Blitz radio station at this past weekend's Sonic Temple festival. "So it's been about a year and a half of writing. And we've only played 13 shows in a year and a half." According to drummer Sam Loeffler, CHEVELLE has written more than a dozen songs for the follow-up to 2016's "The North Corridor", with plans to include "probably 10" on the final product. Last October, Pete told Billboard magazine that he wanted "to stretch a little bit more" on CHEVELLE's next album. "That doesn't always go over well with everybody, but we have to do it," he said. "We're creative beings. I think I could play five of these demo tracks that I have and fans would be into it, and the other four or five, I'm not sure. It will be interesting to see what people think." CHEVELLE's album of rarities from 2002-2016, "12 Bloody Spies: B-Sides And Rarities", was released in October via Epic. CHEVELLE's 2014 album, "La Gargola", gave the band its highest chart debut (No. 3) and produced a No. 1 single on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart in "Take Out The Gunman". "The North Corridor" debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 album chart and produced another No. 1 Mainstream Rock single, "Joyride (Omen)". Photo credit: Christian Lantry […]

Guitar Interactive magazine's Jonathan Graham conducted an interview with DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen during the band's 2018 "Hysteria" anniversary tour. You can watch the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On how the political themes DEF LEPPARD explored on "Hysteria" are still relevant today: Phil: "Nothing changed 2,000 years before that. People like having a row, which is bizarre. How anyone could like war is beyond me. It's a constant kind of — it's always there. Human nature is pretty weird." On whether the recording process for "Hysteria" was "positive" for him: Phil: "It was positive. Giving up drinking, that's been 31 years now, so that's been cool. The trick is with all this experience and all this traveling is to know more today than you did yesterday. We were really lucky, we had great people around us, especially [producer] [Robert] Mutt Lange. He's an inspiration to be around. You'd try something and he'd always have great ideas and he'd go, 'Try this!' You go, 'I can't really play that.' He'd go, 'Yeah, just do it.' He would get you to sing stuff that was above your level. He'd go, 'Okay, just try it.' I'd go, 'I can't hit that note.' He'd say, 'Yeah, you can!' Just the vocal alone, he'd go, 'No, it sounds great. Just try it! Alright we got it. Now double-track it.' Before you know it, you're in there and your new bar has been raised. He was amazing like that. The same with the songwriting. That whole album, he really taught us how to sing and play. I think we'd been an okay band, we'd been a good band, but he made it something great. He deserves all the credit." On when he knew "Hysteria" would be a "special" record: Phil: "When Mutt got involved again, because we were all a bit doubtful. He had to go off and do THE CARS. We wrote the songs in Dublin. He said, 'We can't do 'Pyromania' part two because every other rock band is doing that.' We'll do something a bit special: THE POLICE, PRINCE, FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD, different influences, guitar sounds, THE FIX, all these different kinds of elements. He had to do THE CARS. He went off. We got [MEATLOAF producer/songwriter] Jim Steinman. That didn't work. When he came back in, it was pretty obvious. He was fired up, inspired and these particular songs we'd written, we'd done them in a certain way and in a different way completely because there was this pop stuff that happened. It's all about grabbing different influences, especially if they're from a different genre because you're not going to step on anyone's toes." On fellow guitarist Vivian Campbell (DIO, WHITESNAKE) joining DEF LEPPARD in 1992 for the deceased Steve Clark: Phil: "It was kind of easy. When I joined, the band was still playing half-empty theaters and opening the same kind of stuff I was doing with GIRL. That album, there was some interest in it, but it wasn't like after 'Pyromania', 'Hysteria' and Steve and the whole story and everything. With Viv, he was a fan as well, we just thought, 'Yeah, you can never replace him. You can't replace your best friend or your brother anyway.' He brought something that was so amazing. The main thing, we knew Viv was a great guitar player. That goes without saying, but he could sing and he could do Mutt's parts that we couldn't actually do live. Me, Joe [Elliott, vocals] and Sav [Rick Savage, bass] … Steve wouldn't sing much. He was a bit shy with the vocals, so there would be a gap there. We always missed that stuff because Mutt sings on all the records with us, so he does the really high stuff. Viv could do that. He came in and all of the sudden, it's, like, 'Right. Okay, it's another piece of the jigsaw puzzle and we filled it.' We worked on that. In fact, we just finished a tour and at soundcheck, me and Joe are going, 'Fuck. It sounds amazing.'" DEF LEPPARD's second Las Vegas residency will take place this summer. The band will take over Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino for 12 explosive nights between August 14 and September 7. DEF LEPPARD played its first Las Vegas residency five years ago at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, a pioneering effort for a rock band. DEF LEPPARD's brand new greatest-hits collection titled "The Story So Far - The Best Of", was released in November. […]

Fan-filmed video footage of SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor performing a cover version of David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" on Sunday, May 19 at Gardenamp in Garden Grove, California can be seen below. Taylor's solo set also includes covers of such artists as GUNS N' ROSES and VAN HALEN. In addition to working on SLIPKNOT's new album, Taylor has kept busy in recent months guesting on tracks by FALLING IN REVERSE and U.K. rapper Kid Bookie. SLIPKNOT will embark on a European tour this summer before launching the "Knotfest Roadshow" across North America. The band's new album, "We Are Not Your Kind", is scheduled for release on August 9. Taylor said in a 2016 interview that it would be "super greedy" of him to launch a solo career — at least for now. Speaking with RockSverige.se, Taylor explained: "I've been getting questions about solo stuff forever. But it's a good problem to have. But, at the same time, I'm in two fantastic bands. Why would I ever?" He added, "Unless I wanted to get super greedy, why would I try to split off and do something else. I'm very fulfilled by the music that I get to make with both bands. Is there a solo album in me? Yes. But it's not gonna be for a few more years." Taylor spoke a while back about what he thought a solo album from him might sound like. "For me, the stuff that I write is, it would be like a cross between the [FOO FIGHTERS], SOCIAL [DISTORTION] and THE REPLACEMENTS, you know," he told The Pulse Of Radio. "I mean, real Midwestern rock. Real, just open chords, good time rock, you know. And damn the critics, basically. That's the stuff I write and that's the stuff I've always tried to write." […]

A couple of photos of Vinnie Paul Abbott's soon-to-be-installed headstone can be found below. (Note: The headstone **has not yet been installed** at Vinnie Paul's gravesite.) A message engraved on the headstone reads: "Don't ever think it's not a good time, if you do think it's not a good time. A good time is a good time, a bad time is a bad time, and a wonderful time is irreplaceable. Hellyeah!" The PANTERA and HELLYEAH drummer was buried on June 30, 2018 next to his brother, PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, and their mother, Carolyn, at Moore Memorial Gardens cemetery in Arlington, Texas. He was laid to rest in a custom "Kiss Kasket" provided by KISS members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. The casket was offered as a gift at Vinnie's family's request. Vinnie was also buried in some of his trademark clothes, including his hat, shoes and flannel. Speakers at the service included former GRIM REAPER guitarist Nick Bowcott and SiriusXM DJ Jose Mangin. Also appearing at the event were original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, DISTURBED's David Draiman, NICKELBACK's Chad Kroeger, ANTHRAX's Charlie Benante, FOZZY's Chris Jericho and ROUGH CUTT's Paul Shortino. Vinnie's brother was buried in the original Kiss Kasket prototype in 2004 after his untimely death. The coffin featured the faces of the four founding members of KISS, the KISS logo and the words "Kiss Forever." Both Abbotts were huge fans, especially Darrell, who was shot dead by a gunman in December 2004. A public memorial for Vinnie Paul was held on July 1, 2018 at Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas. Vinnie passed away on June 22, 2018 at his home in Las Vegas at the age of 54. He died of dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, as well as severe coronary artery disease. His death was the result of chronic weakening of the heart muscle — basically meaning his heart couldn't pump blood as well as a healthy heart. Not long before his death, Vinnie laid down the drum tracks for HELLYEAH's sixth album, "Welcome Home", which will be released in September. Vinnie's Headstone!Finally Vinnie now has a grave plate like his brother! ??Posted by Dimebag Darrell Universal Fans United on Saturday, May 18, 2019 Finally!!! Forever Vinnie Paul!!! Forever in our hearts. ❤ \m/ pic.twitter.com/ydIwECled2— Tony (@Tony59527429) May 17, 2019 […]

DRAGONFORCE's Herman Li is auctioning off a one-of-a-kind guitar from his private collection. He says about the instrument: "It's an Ibanez pre-EGEN 18 TVF Prototype with an Edge bridge, the only one like it ever produced! This guitar was used on DRAGONFORCE's Billboard Top 20 album 'Ultra Beatdown', and on tour in 2008 to 2009. Recently it was used for recording solos on the latest DRAGONFORCE album, to be released in the fall of 2019! This guitar was recently professionally setup by the Ibanez Los Angeles custom shop. It sounds and plays beautifully and the weight of it is perfect. This EGEN18 Prototype is ready for many more years of playing to come! "I'll include a personalized message with the guitar, and provide some awesome extras (signed T-shirts, posters, picks, and more)!" Not only is this guitar unique, it is being auctioned for a great cause. Li says: "100% of the proceeds of this auction will go to benefit the family of Cody Spiess. Earlier this year, Cody was diagnosed with Crutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), an extremely rare brain disease for which there is no treatment and no cure. CJD causes rapid dementia and it is always fatal, usually within a year of diagnosis. Cody is a beloved member of his community — he is an honest and skilled auto technician, a BMX racer, a father and husband. He will leave behind a wife, two small children, his sister Cassidy and his parents. "As you all know, bills don't stop when a loved one gets ill. Cody has not been able to work since December. His wife is supporting their sons, age 2 and 4, and his family will be responsible for medical bills, end-of-life care, and funeral costs." If you're not bidding but you'd still like to donate, go to Cody's GoFundMe and learn more about his story. […]

"More Than Bones", the new Andy Maier-directed video from the Christian metal band DEMON HUNTER, can be seen below. The song is taken from the band's latest album "Peace", which was made available alongside a companion LP, "War", on March 1. Frontman Ryan Clark told Kerrang! about "More Than Bones": " I was thinking of what an amazing thing music is, and the idea of preserving someone's life beyond their death. There have been a lot of musicians' deaths over the last few years that I'd started thinking about, whether that was Bowie or Prince or Waylon or Chris Cornell, and I thought, despite how tragic it is to lose those people, how awesome it is to have this catalog of music from each of those people. There might be people generations from now who listen to this music, and it really helps them and changes their life in some positive way. So 'More Than Bones' is basically saying that when I leave this earth, I'll leave you more than bones — I'll leave you all of my thoughts and all of my hopes and dreams and my desire to connect and resonate with people through this music." Clark told Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show that releasing two separate albums "with the polarized styles" that DEMON HUNTER is known for — "heavy and the super-melodic 'ballad'-style songs" — is something he and his bandmates have "talked about doing for a long time." He explained: "We didn't want to do it too early in our career just because it felt like a lofty sort of endeavor. So we didn't want to get carried away too early. So now kind of rounding out our albums at No. 9 and No. 10, seems like a really good time to do it." Ryan said that DEMON HUNTER decided not to package the two LPs together because "double albums are too hard to digest. Of the ones that have been released from bands that I really like, I never really found myself diving into them and fully really soaking them in just because it's quite an undertaking," he said. "So I wanted this to almost be two autonomous things that are meant to be listened to. And I know, coming out on the same day and everything, they might as well be packaged together, but the idea of them being separate is that they… it might not be so burdensome to consume." DEMON HUNTER formed in Seattle in 2001. The lineup features Clark alongside co-founder Jonathan Dunn (bass), drummer Tim "Yogi" Watts (drums, since 2004), lead guitarist Patrick Judge (since 2008) and guitarist Jeremiah Scott (since 2011). Clark remains the primary songwriter, with increasing contributions from Judge. […]

"The Metal Gods Meltdown" recently conducted an interview with guitarist Alex Hellid of veteran Swedish death metallers ENTOMBED. You can listen to the entire chat via the Soundcloud widget below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On the release of the band's "Live Clandestine", which is a 2016 live recording of the band's classic 1991 studio album, "Clandestine": Alex: "We are extremely pleased that we finally pulled this off because we never pulled it off when the album was originally released. The first time around when we toured on this album, was probably 'Gods Of Grind' in 1992. The first show at the London Astoria was recorded and Earache [Records] later released it as 'Monkey Puss [Live In London]'. I remember that we, at the time, were less than happy with our performance at the show. It was actually the first show on that tour and we probably played it twice the speed. These songs are difficult enough as they are, so this time, we rehearsed a little more and tried to keep the tempo a bit moderate. I think we pulled it off. We're very happy with the release. It's probably our first — we see it as our first proper live album as a band. It's great we could do it for this album." On whether he ever could have imagined "Clandestine" having such an impact upon its 1991 release: Alex: "Never. You're amazed you're alive 25 years later and remember your name. So, no. I remember when the first album ['Left Hand Path'] came out, we sort of were never taking anything for granted, even to do the second album. I remember thinking 'I wonder if they will let us do a second album if maybe it sells a hundred copies or something.' So, yeah, it's really fun that we can do it this way." On what makes "Clandestine" stand out from other death metal albums: Alex: "For us, we really tried to do something that we weren't fully skilled enough to do, but we met this band ATHEIST at a show here in Sweden in 1991 or 1990 and they really influenced us a lot to make the album a lot more technical than the first album. A lot of people at the time were saying 'Oh, what happened? Why did you change so much?' Now, 25 years later, most people don't see it as being too much different from the first album, but back then, a lot of people were not too happy that we changed the style a little bit from album to album. Just as people got used to what they thought ENTOMBED was, there was a change and I guess it was the first time people experienced that change. Yeah, it's always been a challenge to play the album live. The first reactions now when I read some of the comments on social media, is that people are hearing things for the first time, which is exactly what I was hoping for. There is a lot on the album that I know most people probably have not heard. I was really happy to see this — one guy was saying he was going to polish off his guitar and de-tune to C again so now he could play along with the album now that he heard what was actually going on. To me, that was a great review." On whether ENTOMBED has plans to recreate "Live Clandestine" with future live shows: Alex: "Hopefully. We are getting some really interesting offers now. We definitely hope to do that. We were actually talking about recording something last year so we could have said yes to a few of these great offers and do a few of these shows this year. As of now, we will maybe start recording something before the summer and maybe put a few, like pretty much what we were doing from the beginning — you do two or three songs and maybe put those out instead of waiting for a full album. Then maybe we'll put it together to an album in the end, but not just have to wait around until everybody has four weeks in a row that we can take. That wasn't the way we worked back in the day, and now, these days, it's very difficult to get that time. I think we'll pretty much go back to working [the way we did] as kids, and I think that will be the right way for us to work. We're really excited about that. Nicke [Andersson, drums] has been on tour with LUCIFER in the States, so he came back a week or two ago and he called me the other day and said, 'My drum kit is up. The studio is done. I'm ready to start recording these songs we have.' I'm really pleased about that. It's always a good sign when the other guys are fired up and ready. I'm looking forward to that." ENTOMBED has been virtually inactive since it played "Clandestine" in its entirety at Malmö Live in Malmö, Sweden on November 12, 2016. Sitting in first with conductor Josef Rhedin and the hundred-plus-member Malmö Symphony Orchestra for Thomas Von Wachenfeldt's arrangement of "Clandestine", the band performed "Clandestine" from front to back for the very first time. Joining Hellid, guitarist Uffe Cederlund and Andersson in the group's latest incarnation are Robert Andersson (vocals) and Nicke's half-brother Edvin Aftonfalk (bass), both formerly of the Swedish death metal band MORBUS CHRON. The ENTOMBED band that performed at Malmö Live is not to be confused with ENTOMBED A.D., which features vocalist Lars Göran Petrov alongside Olle Dahlstedt (drums), Nico Elgstrand (guitar) and Guilherme Miranda (guitar). Hellid and Petrov have been embroiled in a legal battle over the ENTOMBED name for several years. […]

"Red Before Black", the new video from Florida death metal veterans CANNIBAL CORPSE, can be seen below. The song is the title track of the band's latest album, which was released in November 2017 via Metal Blade Records. The follow-up to 2014's "A Skeletal Domain" was recorded at Mana Recording Studios in Saint Petersburg, Florida with producer/engineer Erik Rutan (SOILENT GREEN, BELPHEGOR, HATE ETERNAL), who previously worked with CANNIBAL CORPSE on 2006's "Kill", 2009's "Evisceration Plague" and 2012's "Torture". The "Red Before Black" clip is from the mind of horror FX veteran Doug Sakmann. The concept builds upon the world brought to life by Zev Deans in the previously released "Code Of The Slashers" video but adds significantly to the visual gore department. Sakmann shot the concept in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the live footage was captured by Jesse Davis in San Francisco, California. The video stars adult performers Nadia White and Talia Satana, as well as actresses Sonja Century, Kim Reo, and actor Alex Webster as the final kill of the video. "Red Before Black" was edited by Metal Blade's own Vince Edwards and then meticulously processed by colorist/senior lead flame artist Luc Job (a pioneer in digital imagery for the last 25 years who has worked with directors David Lachapelle, Ridley Scott and Darren Aronofsky and clients like BMW, Dolce & Gabbana), who was all too happy to assist to bring the gratuitous bloodshed and gore to life for CANNIBAL CORPSE. CANNIBAL CORPSE is currently on tour with SLAYER, LAMB OF GOD and AMON AMARTH. Rutan made his live debut with CANNIBAL CORPSE at the opening show of the "Decibel Magazine Tour" on February 17 in San Antonio, Texas. He is playing with the band as the temporary replacement for guitarist Pat O'Brien, who was arrested in December for burglary and assaulting a police officer while his Florida home was in flames. […]