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Revolver's August/September issue on Ozzfest Meets Knotfest featuring Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne and Slipknot's Corey Taylor hits newsstands today! It is also available for purchase in our webstore. You can view the cover below.

The August/September issue also features Periphery, Volbeat, Hellyeah, Chelsea Grin, Despised Icon, and so much more! Check out a full preview.

Swedish melodic metal group Soilwork will headline the upcoming North American "Fury Tour."

Featuring support Unearth, Wovenwar, Battlecross, and Darkness Divided, the Fury Tour will kick-off on October 14. Check out the dates below.

Tickets go on sale nationally starting August 12 and will be available via furytour.com, with VIP packages available now through Show Stubs via showstubs.com/furytour.

Soilwork vocalist Bjorn "Speed" Strid said, "We are very excited to announce our first North American headline run in a while, together with old friends in Unearth and Wovenwar. We are also bringing Battlecross and Darkness Divided, two awesome bands that we are looking forward to get to know a bit better! We have already done two direct support tours in North America, for our latest album with Soulfly and Fear Factory, where we gained a lot of new fans. Now it's time to bring 'The Ride Majestic World Tour' to North America via the Fury Tour in full force with a headline set, featuring songs from our 20 year long career. It's gonna be magical ladies n' gents, don't miss out!"

Unearth added, "The power of the riff is hitting North America by way of the Fury Tour this fall and we couldn't be happier to be part of it. From the mighty Soilwork, to the thrashers in Battlecross, our brothers in Wovenwar and the young guns in Darkness Divided this tour is stacked top to bottom. See you out there."
 
2016 SOILWORK "Fury Tour" Headline Dates w/ Unearth, Wovenwar, Battlecross, and Darkness Divided:

California-based metalcore group Of Mice & Men have premiered a new song, "Pain." Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments!

Bassist/vocalist Aaron Pauley said of the track, "Even with all the advances in technology, it's all too easy to feel lost in 2016. It's easy to forget who you are. 'Real' is our response to that; our call to arms. If we take the time to remind ourselves what makes us real, no one can replace that."

'Cold World' will be released September 9 via Rise Records.

Sure, you've heard Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" covered countless times. But how often have you seen someone shred the song on guitar and keyboard simultaneously?

In his latest video, Gabriel Guardian puts his ambidextrous abilities to work with an epic cover of the GN'R hit. Using hammer-ons and pull-offs, Guardian handles guitar duties single-handedly for much of the video while accompanying himself on keyboard.

Things really get wild around the 2:58 mark, where he harmonizes his guitar lines on the keyboard.

The 24-year-old virtuoso is sponsored by Fender and Jackson Guitars and Alesis keyboards and performs with progressive metal band Immortal Guardian and the live electronic duo Fyer. He's in the studio finishing up new records for both groups and has releases set for late 2016 and early 2017. He'll be  performing with Fyer on the mainstage at Atlanta's Imagine Music Festival on August 26 through 28. 

You can see more of his videos below and at GabrielGuardian.com, ImmortalGuardian.net and FyerOfficial.com.

Swedish metallers Meshuggah have announced its eighth album, 'The Violent Sleep of Reason.'

The album, which was produced by the band, is set for an October 6 release via Nuclear Blast Records. You can pre-order it here.

You can check out the track list and a brief teaser for the album below.

The Violent Sleep of Reason tracklist:

1. Clockworks
2. Born in Dissonance
3. MonstroCity
4. By the Ton
5. Violent Sleep of Reason
6. Ivory Tower
7. Stifled
8. Nostrum
9. Our Rage Won't Die
10. Into Decay

The following article is from Revolver's August/September 2016 issue. It is on newsstands August 9 and available for purchase in our webstore.

by Jon Wiederhorn

Four years have passed since Testament released its tenth studio album, 'Dark Roots of the Earth,' and it's easy to see how. The band toured relentlessly on the record and when they weren't hitting the pavement, the members were busy with other projects. Guitarist Alex Skolnick recorded and played shows with supergroup Metal Allegiance, bassist Steve DiGiorgio and drummer Gene Hoglan toured with the Death revival outfit Death to All, and vocalist Chuck Billy co-formed the management company Breaking Bands, LLC. "We'd start working on something and then a tour would come up or someone would get locked into another project so we'd have to stop," said guitarist and main songwriter Eric Peterson. "It has been stop-go-stop-go process, which has been really frustrating. Finally, I put my foot down and set a recording date of April 27."

With the blessings of his bandmates, Peterson, who is also producing the album, demoed 15 songs at his home studio, then whittled the music down to the 11 tracks that will comprise Testament's next album, 'The Brotherhood of the Snake,' which is scheduled for an October release. According to Peterson, the autonomy allowed him to create some of the group's fastest, heaviest material to date (with the exclusion of the 1997 death metal outing 'Demonic').

While he has always been partial to thrash, in the past Peterson always wanted to make sure Testament's albums contained a strong balance of rippers, anthems, mid-paced groove-rockers, and the occasional ballad. However, everything he wrote for 'The Brotherhood of the Snake' roared with rapid-fire ferocity, so he kept going.

"When I was six songs in I went, 'Holy crap, these are all thrash!'" Peterson says. "But when I listened back I went, 'Well, they all sound different and they're all killer.'"

The fastest songs on 'The Brotherhood of the Snake' include "The Number Game," "The Pale King" and "Neptune's Star." The song "Black Mass" is sludgier and more doom-laden, but it also includes fleet guitar picking Peterson compares to melodic black metal band Old Man's Child.

When Peterson finished demoing, Hoglan flew from his home in Los Angeles to Trident Studios in Martinez, California (35 miles outside of San Francisco), where he spent two weeks tracking drums. Then, Peterson recorded the final rhythm guitar tracks back at home. Once they were done, he sent the tracks to Skolnick, who laid down leads in his studio in Brooklyn, New York. Finally, the songs went to DiGiorgio and Billy, who recorded their parts at Trident. While Billy performed what Peterson calls "some of his best vocals," the singer often needed some prodding.

"Chuck wants everything he does to be final," Peterson says. "If he records something I don't vibe with, I try to convince him to change it. He'll be like, 'Nope, this is it.' And I'll go, 'No it's not.' I don't want to be that guy, but if something's wrong it has be redone. But in the end it always works out."

Two years ago, Kevin Conklin of Conklin Radio pieced together every "Yeah!" ever screamed by Metallica frontman James Hetfield. Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments!

The following article is from Revolver's August/September 2016 issue. It is on newsstands August 9 and available for purchase in our webstore.

by Chris Krovatin

Most bands look for studios and producers who work within their genre; if you're in a thrash band, you pick a thrash producer. So how do Amaranthe, a band with influences from electro-pop to death metal, choose where and with whom to record? "We look for someone who's pretty well-rounded," says guitarist/keyboardist Olof Mörck from Top Floor Studio in Gothenburg, Sweden. "We really need somebody who understands us on a musical level, so we don't lose them in the process. There are a lot of harmonies and different keyboards to keep track of. I think Jacob Hansen, who records the vocals, is a genius, not just in production but in terms of composing, and understanding."

When Revolver reaches him, Mörck says the band has laid down guitars, drums and keyboards for Amaranthe's fourth full-length album, with vocals to record and mixing left. But first, the band is heading out for a month-long circuit of festival shows, which he thinks will help the recording process. "It's an idea that we've been toying around with before, and now we actually have the opportunity to try that out. I'm excited about it, because usually, when we record, we have to very quickly add the vocals into the mix, which leaves not a whole lot of time for contemplating."

Another change in Amaranthe's usual studio process is the location—rather than record entirely in Denmark as they have in the past, the band has spent the first half of the process in its hometown of Gothenburg. "It's been pretty chill," says Mörck. "Take a five minute walk to the studio, get ready. Sure, it's good to isolate yourself and focus, but at the end of the day it's hard to really stomach that, especially when you've done it a bunch of times before."

Still, as hard as Mörck has worked to make studio time the most relaxed Amaranthe has had, some band members will find it frustrating regardless.

"Our bass player, Joe [Andreassen], would happily admit that he hates recording," laughs Mörck. "As soon as the red light goes on, he wants to throw up."