Global rock heavyweights FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and VOLBEAT announced today (5/6) on their Facebook pages (5FDP Facebook and Volbeat Facebook) that they’ve joined forces to bring fans one of the biggest rock tours of the year produced by Frank Productions/NS2. Special guests on the tour will be HELLYEAH and NOTHING MORE. Fred Frank, President of FRANK PRODUCTIONS offers: “We are excited to put two of the globally most relevant and hottest bands of the genre into major arenas across the country to bring fans an amazing night with 4 bands on the bill at a great value”.  

Legendary doom metal dignitaries SAINT VITUS will celebrate their thirty-fifth anniversary with a short run of live rituals later this week. Sponsored by Scion AV, the trek inaugurates on May 8th in Albuquerque, New Mexico and will wind its way West and back again, coming to a close on May 25th in Dallas, Texas.  

Tampa merchants of misery SERVANTS OF THE MIST are entering the studio this month to record the follow-up to last year’s well received Suicide Sex Pact EP (released December 10). The new EP will be called Gross Knowledge of Genital Mutilation and will again be self-released on digital format at servantsofthemist.bandcamp.com.  

Well, it’s come down to this…with 2 episodes left, the big gorilla in the room is will Disney renew Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? The latest ratings would indicate that no, it doesn’t warrant a renewal with the dismal ratings posted week to week. But looking deeper into the ratings, one thing might save the show.  

It’s no secret that Darwyn Cooke has garnered wide acclaim, including multiple Eisner and Harvey awards, adapting Donald E. Westlake’s world of Parker into graphic novels. But what should catch your attention today is that the acclaimed writer/artist is providing all-new illustrations for the classic Parker novels by Richard Stark (Westlake’s pen name), presented for the first time in a deluxe format.  

Long seethed in the rumor mill of the stoner rock community, but now it’s official: On August 1st 2014 in USA/CAN & August 8th 2014 in Australia/New Zealand the highly expected solo album John Garcia by JOHN GARCIA (Ex-KYUSS, VISTA CHINO) is set to be released via Napalm Records.  

With the Queensrÿche canvas wiped completely clean and the band’s easel the strongest and most stable it’s been in years, Eddie Jackson, Todd LaTorre, Parker Lundgren, Scott Rockenfield and Michael Wilton forge ahead to create yet another QR masterpiece. The band has already begun writing new material for the follow up to their critically acclaimed self-titled 2013 Century Media Records release, Queensrÿche. The new album is tentatively scheduled for release in early summer 2015.  

This May, the shocking truth about Deadpool’s family comes to light in DEADPOOL #29 – a tie-in to Original Sin! And the truth about the Merc With a Mouth upend the lives of those close to him in ways you never thought imaginable. Fan-favorite writers Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn along with artist John Lucas craft an gut-wrenching tale about Wade’s past that might just be too much for him to handle!  

The era of Rock N’ Roll has been dead for a long time. In fact, ever since they found out that hairspray has been a deciding factor in the removal of ozone, its been just slowly sliding into a golden memory. Until now. The days of actually knowing how to do more than play a simple power chord pattern has given way to a true Rock band: MACH 22. These guys are as fast as their name, with sweet, sweet crunch, fried chicken-tasty licks, and some energy to spare! Their new album, Sweet Talk Intervention, is a glorious throwback to bands like King’s X, Living Colour, Extreme, and just a little bit of GNR. Starting from just the packaging, you know you’re in for a wild ride: the artwork is a gorgeous palette... 

On March 14th, Zakk Wylde’s Pelham Blue Bullseye Gibson LP Custom Guitar was stolen from his tour bus in Chicago during the Experience Hendrix show at the Chicago Theater. It turned up at Royal Pawn, a Chicago area pawn shop that is the setting of truTV’s Hardcore Pawn reality TV show. A more detailed report on the guitar’s discovery can be read in a yesterday’s story in the Chicago Tribune. Black Label Society have been announced as the musical guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Tuesday, May 6. The band will perform “Angel of Mercy” from their recently released album Catacombs of the Black Vatican, which debuted at #1 on the Independent, Rock and Metal charts and #5 on the Billboard... 

Sometimes you just can’t catch a break. SMBH has one of the most pain in the ass names to have to repeatedly type, and I’ll probably say it several times. The new album, “shortly” titled Calculations of the Ancients, was just released this past April 29th, and has started to decimate ear tubes across the world.  

After a two-year hiatus, Ohio technical grinding death metal peddlers LOCUSTA will be embarking on a live takeover through the East Coast this Spring! Slated to commence on May 13th in Raleigh, North Caroline, LOCUSTA will rape faces through Columbia, Knoxville, Columbus, Washington DC, Baltimore, Brooklyn, Providence, Portland, Philadelphia, Harrisonburg and Richmond with additional incursions to be announced in the coming weeks. The band will be joined by drummer Alex Tomlin (Battlemaster, Arsis, Withered et al).