Four years on from the release of Battle for the Sun, the first album from Placebo with new drummer Steve Forrest, the band have announced details on their long-awaited seventh studio album.

Following on from last year’s five-track EP B3, Loud Like Love will be released on 16th September in a variety of formats; CD, 12″ coloured vinyl, a deluxe digi-pack and a 3D lenticular super deluxe edition. Working with producer Adam Noble, whose credits include engineering for Basement Jaxx and U2, sessions were conducted at RAK Studios in London, where the band had previously worked on their 2006 album Meds.

To promote the release of Loud Like Love, Placebo will embark on a European tour in November. The dates will be as follows:

November:
- Tuesday, 12th. Torwar, Warsaw – Poland
- Wednesday, 13th. Lucerna Music Bar, Prague – Czech Rep
- Friday, 15th. Arena Leipzig, Leipzig – Germany
- Saturday, 16th. Lanxess Arena, Cologne – Germany
- Monday, 18th. Hallenstadion Arena, Zurich – Switzerland
- Tuesday, 19th. Olympiahalle, Munich – Germany
- Tuesday, 21st. Stadthalle, Vienna – Austria
- Saturday, 23rd. Unipol Arena, Bologna – Italy
- Sunday, 24th. Geneva Arena, Geneva – Switzerland
- Wednesday, 27th. Festhalle, Frankfurt – Germany
- Thursday, 28th. O2 Arena Berlin, Berlin – Germany
- Saturday, 30th. Falconer Salen, Copenhagen – Denmark

December:
- Sunday, 1st. Stora Arenan, Stockholm – Sweden
- Tuesday, 3rd. Sentrum Scene, Oslo – Norway
- Thursday, 5th. O2 World, Hamburg – Germany
- Saturday, 7th. Sportpalais, Antwerp – Belgium
- Sunday, 8th. Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam – Holland
- Tuesday, 10th. Bercy, Paris – France
- Thursday, 12th. O2 Academy Birmingham, Birmingham – UK
- Friday, 13th. O2 Academy Glasgow, Glasgow
- Saturday, 14th. O2 Apollo, Manchester – UK
- Monday, 16th. O2 Academy Brixton, London – UK

Forty-two years after the premature passing of Jim Morrison, controversial frontman of the legendary ’60s group The Doors, keyboardist and co-founder Ray Manzarek has died after a long struggle with bile duct cancer, the band have announced.

Almost twenty-eight when their eponymous album was released in January 1967, Manzarek was the musical driving force behind the four-piece, while close friend Morrison was the primary lyricist. In just a little over four years, The Doors released six classic albums, varying in style from hard blues to jazz, and resulting in such seminal tracks as The End, Riders on the Storm, People Are Strange and Light My Fire.

Following the passing of Jim Morrison in the summer of 1971, The Doors released another two albums, Other Voices and Full Circle, with Manzarek taking over lead vocals, as well as 1978′s An American Prayer, in which the band based music around recited poems from Morrison. Alongside various incarnations of The Doors, Manzarek also formed a side-project with bandmate Robby Krieger called Manzarek-Krieger, as well as recounting his life in his autobiography Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors.

In a statement Krieger paid tribute to his close friend; “I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today. I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him.”

Keifer had more to overcome than just changes in music taste, however, as shortly after the release of their third album he was diagnosed as having a partially paralysed vocal cord, meaning that he may never sing again. After the disappointing performance of their fourth and final album, 1994′s Still Climbing (their first that failed to be certified Platinum), Cinderella split and Keifer withdrew from the public eye.

Despite being heavily influenced by blues and hard rock, Cinderella had been forced to succumb to the demands of the market and, after being discovered by emerging rock star Jon Bon Jovi, appeared in 1986 with their glam metal debut Night Songs. The album was a hit and their songs Shake Me and Nobody’s Fool became regular fixtures of MTV, but by the time their sophomore record arrived two years later, they had abandoned their glam image and began to move their sound further away from the hair metal scene.

Returning in 1990 with Heartbreak Station, at a time when bands like Poison were also moving away from their glam roots, Cinderella surprised fans with a radical departure from their earlier sound, incorporating elements of blues and even gospel (the track Shelter Me was even covered in concert by Tom Jones). Despite being featured on the soundtrack to the hit metal comedy Wayne’s World, Mercury Records failed to offer support to the release of Still Climbing and, with the suicide of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain earlier that year, metal fans and critics were too preoccupied with finding a new voice for their generation to support a blues-influenced rock album.

As Keifer’s voice slowly recovered, the band began performing once again, even as bassist Eric Brittingham suffered a mild heart attack in December 2006. More recently, Keifer returned to the studio and recorded his debut solo album, which was released through Merovee Records last month to modest acclaim.

10. SHAKE ME
At the height of the glam metal boom, as Poison were releasing their debut Look What the Cat Dragged In and Ratt were enjoying one Platinum-selling album after another, Cinderella appeared on the scene with their first single, Shake Me. The video, following the story of Cinderella, has an innocent young girl who is mocked by her stepsisters and ordered to stay home, but then the poster of the band on her wall comes to life and she soon finds herself onstage at a Cinderella show, where the band and performing the song.

9. ONE FOR ROCK AND ROLL
With the hair metal scene all but gone by the end of 1990, prompting many of the genre’s more popular acts to venture into different genres, Cinderella were finally able to embrace their love of blues and country with their unsung classic Heartbreak Station. When fans discuss their favourite songs by the band they rarely – if ever – mention One for Rock and Roll, a foot-tapping country tune which proved that, if they ever tired of playing rock tunes, they could easily have revamped themselves and conquered the country scene instead. The White Stripes would enjoy success a decade later while flirting with a similar style.

8. LONG COLD WINTER
Pure blues, the title track to their second album, Long Cold Winter, was based around a succession of guitar solos and was notable for the addition of an organ in the background. Less about the lyrics and more about the passion of the music, the song still sees Keifer screeching, “I’ve been searching, can’t find my peace of mind. It’s gonna be a long cold winter, long cold winter without your love.”

7. NIGHT SONGS
Opening atmospherically with the sound of bells and howling, Cinderella’s debut album kicked off strong with the title track, a relatively slow-yet-heavy number with lyrics that appealed to the young metal fans that their music was marketed for, with Keifer declaring, “Working this job ain’t paying the bills, sick and tired rat race taking my thrills. Kicking down a road, not a dollar in my pocket. Night-time falls and I’m ready to rock it.”

6. THE ROAD’S STILL LONG
There is little doubt that Still Climbing was as strong as any of its predecessors, perhaps due to Keifer’s ongoing health issues and the challenge of finding an identity in an ever-changing music, but there was still plenty to enjoy on the record. While Hot & Bothered, which had appeared two years earlier in the movie Wayne’s World, has since appeared on different retrospectives, such as 2005′s Rocked, Wired & Bluesed: The Greatest Hits, The Road’s Still Long was an overlooked gem on an album that has often strongly divided the band’s fan-base.

5. DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU GOT (TILL IT’S GONE)
Arguably Cinderella’s best-known track and released at a time when the power ballad had become a staple of the hair metal scene (from Poison’s Every Rose Has Its Thorn to L.A. Guns’ The Balled of Jayne), Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone) was the second single released from Long Cold Winter and narrowly missed the Top Ten in the United States when it was released at the end of summer in 1988, three months after the album had debuted. Based around Keifer’s piano, the song is regularly played at shows and remains a fan favourite twenty-five years later.

4. SOMEBODY SAVE ME
Their last glam metal single before returning with a bluesier sound the following year, Somebody Save Me followed the popularity of Nobody’s Fool (see below) and was accompanied by a video that was set in 1985, featuring the band attempting to record the song in the studio but, after receiving minor criticism from their producer, cut a perfect take straight afterwards. The video ended with the evil stepsisters from the Shake Me promo ignoring the band in favour of Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.

3. NOBODY’S FOOL
Following the surprise success of Shake Me, Cinderella’s second single was the power ballad Nobody’s Fool. Despite being slower and less upbeat as its predecessor, the release in many ways was a continuation, not only with a live version of Shake Me being included as a B-side but also with the video continuing the story. With the evil stepsisters having been locked outside the show as the young girl is taken away with the band, the video for Nobody’s Fool began as the sisters returned to their car and changed their outfit, before following the band and their stepsister to the studio for the shooting of their new video.

2. HEARTBREAK STATION
While Cinderella’s third album, Heartbreak Station, is often overlooked by fans in favour of their first two records, it boasts a mature and confident sound that shows how the band had progressed over the years. While lead single Shelter Me experimented even further with their sound, it was the title track that truly demonstrated Keifer’s talent for songwriting, from the beauty of the melody to heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics, in which he croons, “You took the last train out of my heart.” While Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone) remains their best known ballad, Heartbreak Station was their most hypnotic.

1. BAD SEAMSTRESS BLUES/FALLIN’ APART AT THE SEAMS
Perhaps as far from their earlier sound as Cinderella would ever get, the opening track to Long Cold Winter, Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin’ Apart at the Seams, wore their love of blues on their sleeve. The first section of the song, Bad Seamstress Blues, begins with Keifer playing a steel guitar while signing, “Looking on back when I was young, I tried to sing it but my song had been sung,” before the rest of the band kick into action for the more energetic second half, Fallin’ Apart at the Seams. This marked the arrival of a new sound and more sophisticated songwriting for the band.

“The Runaways were young, and we listened to what everybody else told us,” guitarist Lita Ford confessed to Spin in 1987. “Someone said wear this, and we’d go, “Oh, okay.” The Runaways were out there just for the boys and it was very difficult to take us seriously because of the way we presented ourselves.” The band, who were the subject of a 2010 biopic (with Halloween’s Scout Taylor-Compton in the role of Ford), were formed in California in the mid-1970s by notorious producer Kim Fowley, and featured Joan Jett on lead guitar and sex siren Cherie Currie on vocals.

Still in their teens at the height of their success, The Runaways released two studio albums with Currie, before internal conflicts and addiction caused her to part ways with her bandmates (“There’s stuff in the book that was really hard for me to write about,” Currie told Spin in 1989 when promoting her autobiography Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story), finally allowing Jett to take centre-stage as the lead singer.

In a new interview with Rock Overdose, Ford discusses her first taste of rock ‘n’ roll success as guitarist with The Runaways; “It wasn’t overwhelming, but welcomed! I dove in head first and never looked back. We were very lucky girls to have had a chance at The Runaways, as they have left their print in the history of rock ‘n’ roll and punk. I am proud to have been a part of this exciting time. Travelling was also, so educational, more so than school books, I got to actually travel to these places and see the different cultures! I loved it then, and I love it now!”

“We’re already thinking about new ideas for the next album, so probably next year we’re gonna have something new going on,” guitarist Andreas Kisser told Metal Hammer prior to Sepultura’s appearance at last summer’s Bloodstock Open Air in Derbyshire. This would be the follow-up to 2011′s Kairos, which marked the band’s first offering under their new contract with Nuclear Blast, and their last with drummer Jean Dolabella (read our interview here), who had joined in 2006 following the departure of founding member Igor Cavalera.

Sepultura are set to appear at the Rock Hard Festival this evening in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, before returning to the road for a series of dates in their native Brazil this August. Recently, Kisser made an appearance on popular Brazilian children’s TV show Cocoricó, known for its colourful characters in the form of puppets and regular local celebrity guests.

Watch the interview in Portuguese here!

Thrash music has long been the genre that has been reviled and condemned by those who have refused to embrace it and adored by those who have been seduced by its intensity and attitude. Often the subject of controversy and a regular target of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), over the years thrash would be misunderstood and treated as a scapegoat for such tragedies as teenage suicide.

While many of the bands would later seek mainstream acceptance, the 1980s spawned countless classic albums that would help to define the genre. Over twenty years later and many of these are still listen amongst the greatest metal records of all time. Here’s a list of must-have albums for fans of thrash…

10. OVERKILL – The Years of Decay
1989′s The Years of Decay was the fourth album by Overkill, who had formed in New Jersey a decade earlier and had gained a loyal following over the years performing on the East Coast. Over the years their music had taken a darker turn, with the hair metal-style cover of 1987′s Taking Over replaced with horror themed artwork of Under the Influence the following year. The Years of Decay would show a more mature sound, whilst the track Elimination would enjoy some success on MTV. Some of the success of the album should be given to producer Terry Date, who would later help refine the sound of Pantera.

9. VENOM – Black Metal
English band Venom had been one of the original trash bands, having formed in the late 1970s in Newcastle and released their first album, Welcome to Hell, in 1981. Their second record, 1982′s Black Metal, would help label a new sub-genre and would prove to be a major influence on a generation of young wannabe musicians. Whilst the band have barely broken into the mainstream they remain one of the most popular metal bands of the era and their first two albums are often considered classics of the genre.

8. WATCHTOWER – Control and Resistance
WatchTower had first appeared out of Texas in the early 1980s and had recorded their debut album Energetic Disassembly in 1985. But its low budget had resulted in a record that failed to demonstrate the dynamics of the group. Their second effort, 1989′s Control and Resistance, would have a fuller sound, whilst the band themselves had progressed as musicians, as evident with their numerous guitar solos. This would be partially due to the addition of new guitarist Ron Jarzombek who would help give WatchTower a new sound.

7. EXODUS – Bonded by Blood
Few bands are able to perfect their sound on their first record but Exodus’ debut Bonded by Blood would stand as a landmark in the thrash genre and arguably their most influential work. Reportedly delayed due to issues with the record company, Exodus finally managed to release the album and instantly became forerunners of thrash, which would later result in such records as Pleasures of the Flesh and Impact is Imminent. Bonded by Blood would include such memorable tunes as Piranha, A Lesson in Violence and the closing number Strike of the Beast.

6. ANTHRAX – Among The Living
Like many thrash bands of the era who would later enjoy some degree of mainstream success the sound of Anthrax has changed dramatically over the years. Their third album, following the excellent Spreading the Disease, Among the Living was released in 1987, just three years before they enjoyed airplay with their punk cover of Joe Jackson’s Got the Time. Despite having gone through numerous line-ups over the years Among the Living would feature their most success members, with Joey Belladonna on vocals.

5. NUCLEAR ASSAULT – Handle with Care
Having moved from Combat Records to I.R.S. Metal with their second studio album Survive, Nuclear Assault relocated once again for their follow-up, 1989′s Handle With Care, this time to Under One Flag, who was also the home to Acid Reign and Venom. Kicking off with the intense New Song and concluding a little over half an hour later with Trail of Tears, the album was produced by Randy Burns, who had overseen the original recording of Megadeth’s Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying? for Combat, Handle With Care was so popular with metal fans that it even made its way onto the Billboard 200.

4. METALLICA – Ride the Lightning
It is almost depressing to listen to the music that Metallica have produced over the last fifteen years when they have previously been responsible for such classics as Ride the Lightning, their second record that was released way back in 1984. Full of frustration and killer guitar riffs, the album marked the band’s progression into a more complex and compelling group. Although Ride the Lightning’s most famous track was the anthemic For Whom the Bell Tolls the album is full of memorable riffs and energy that the band somehow lost when they became more polished in the 1990s. Amongst the highlights were Fade to Black (one of their finest tracks) and Creeping Death.

3. MEGADETH – Rust in Peace
By the end of the 1980s Megadeth had released three albums of varying quality. Their debut, Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!, was a low budget affair that suffered from poor production value and substance abuse, while their major label debut Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying? had been a step in the right direction, helping to cement their reputation as pioneers of the trash genre. 1988′s So Far, So Good… So What! had mixed classic tracks like In My Darkest Hour with an ill-advised cover of the Sex Pistols anthem Anarchy in the UK. 1990′s Rust in Peace would find frontman Dave Mustaine finally sober and focused and the result would be the group’s finest album of their career. Five Magics and Poison Was the Cure, Rust in Peace would be the last album of the classic sounding Megadeth before reinventing themselves for MTV with the impressive Countdown to Extenction two years later.

2. SEPULTURA – Beneath the Remains
With Max Cavalera at the helm and his younger brother Igor behind the drums Sepultura were arguably the finest thrash band of all time (although many would argue that the title belongs to Slayer). Following on from their independent debut EP Bestial Devastation and full length album Morbid Visions, Sepultura recruited guitarist Andreas Kisser for their second album Schizophrenia. With tracks such as Escape to the Void, this took the band further towards the realm of thrash, a sound that they would perfect with their first professional record Beneath the Remains. The opening title track would perfectly showcase what would follow, with its disarming soft beginning before suddenly bursting into intensity. Other stand out tracks include Stronger Than Hate and Slave of Pain.

1. SLAYER – Reign in Blood
There have been few albums that have started with such intensity as Slayer‘s 1986 classic Reign in Blood. Opening with the head ache-inducing Angel of Death (arguably their most famous song), the record shows the band at their peak; an unapologising onslaught of aggression and macabre imagery. Although they had already released two albums prior to Reign in Blood, this would mark their first true masterpiece and many fans still consider it their finest hour. The track Raining Blood is still a regular fixture of Slayer’s set list and one of their most popular songs.

Former Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery has announced that he is parting ways with Trent Reznor’s industrial metal group Nine Inch Nails after only three months. In late February, Reznor revealed that he was finally heading back on the road after a successful side career as a film composer, gathering together musicians for an extensive tour that are expected to start this summer and run through until early next year. But Avery, who was performing with Jane’s Addiction when they joined Nine Inch Nails on their acclaimed NINJA tour in 2009, has stated on Facebook that he has decided to leave the band to focus on other projects.

“It’s with very mixed emotions I tell you all that I’m pulling out of NIN. I know. It’s been a tough call and I don’t know if it’s the right one. But I really want to focus on my musical life here in LA, on film work in particular,” explains Avery. “As the tour dates kept growing… I just got overwhelmed. I just got home from a year of heavy travel with Garbage, the idea of leaving town for another year and a half, and with all the intensity that nails demands… fortunately my friend Trent understands all this and appreciated my pulling the plug now instead of deep into 2013 and 14. Go get ‘em gentlemen.” (sic)

This July will mark the thirtieth anniversary since the release of Kill ‘Em All, the debut album from thrash metal icons Metallica. In the three decades since its release, the band have produced a further eight full-length albums, as well as numerous EPs, collaborations and live albums. Despite losing popularity during the mid-1990s following the ill-advised Load, Metallica have since regained their credibility with 2008′s Death Magnetic and their headlining slot at the Big Four (broadcast live in cinemas around the world) two years later.

In a new interview with Contact Music, frontman James Hetfield says, “Still searching for the ultimate riff, the ultimate guitar sound, the ultimate lyric, all of that stuff. It’s a never-ending quest, you know, never satisfied. So that, as well as just enjoying and taking care of the life we have. We’re pretty blessed.”

Photo: Getty Images

To release a studio album almost twenty-two years after their last full-length offering is always a risky move, yet My Bloody Valentine have always played by their own rules. Having formed in Dublin in the early 1980s and taking their name from a Canadian slasher movie, the band’s first significant offering was This Is Your Bloody Valentine, a mini-album released through Tycoon in 1985.

Signing to Creation, their debut album followed three years later, but after only two official albums the band split in the mid-1990s. Reforming a decade later, the band finally returned earlier this year with a new studio album entitled MBV, produced by frontman Kevin Shields.

Billboard have announced that My Bloody Valentine will be headlining the FYF Festival in Los Angeles, which will take place at the State Historic Park between the 25th and 25th August. The event will also feature performances from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Breeders, the latter fronted by Pixies bassist Kim Deal.

Tickets for the event will be priced $99 and go on sale on 16th May.

It has been a year and a half since the release of American Capitalist, the third studio album from Five Finger Death Punch and just seven months since their last single, The Pride, and now the band are set to return with a new track entitled Lift Me Up. A duet with rock legend Rob Halford, frontman of Judas Priest, will be available for download tomorrow from Amazon and iTunes. The single precedes the band’s upcoming album The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell Volume 1, which will hit the shelves on 23 July.

Regarding their new collaboration, frontman Ivan Moody comments that; “First and foremost, just to work alongside an icon like Rob Halford, THE Metal God, was absolutely surreal. The song itself was originally written about overcoming everyday obstacles and less than perfect situations. Most of us weren’t born with a silver spoon in our mouth but if life dealt you all the wrong cards, you still have to play. The song’s intent is to inspire; if you play that hand right you might just come out on top anyway”