Melbourne based prog/tech/alternative metal band Circles have announced their second Australian tour.
Circles will take to the road with Twelve Foot Ninja and Jericco in March, stopping by at the following venues: Mar 1 – The Basement, Canberra
Mar 2 – The Patch, Wollongong
Mar 3 – The Annandale, Sydney
Mar 10 – Enigma Bar, Adelaide
Mar 24 – Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne
Mar 29 – Mac’s Hotel, Melton
Mar 30 – Ferntree Gully Hotel, Ferntree Gully
Mar 31 – Pelly Bar, Frankston
Watch the first section of the band’s tour diary – courtesy of Terrorizer – by clicking here!
Circles are currently promoting their acclaimed ‘Compass’ EP, which was released by the groudbreaking, boundary pushing metal label Basick Records in 2011.
Following the appearance of a couple of news songs for last year’s Ben Folds retrospective ‘The Best Imitation of Myself’, Ben Folds has reunited with drummer Darren Jessee and bassist Robert Sledge, collectively known as Ben Folds Five.
Ben Folds Five disbanded over a decade ago, following the release of their much loved 1999 release ‘The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner’, after which Folds began a hugely successful solo career.
Early reports suggest the trio are in the studio working on a brand new, full-length release. It is not yet known when the new material will see the light of day.
Chicago-based progressive metal band Born of Osiris have released a new video for their song ‘Follow The Signs’. Taken from their third release ‘The Discovery’, which was released almost a year ago. The track was produced by noted studio man Jason Suecof, noted for his work with Trivium and DevilDriver.
You can view the video clip below. Meanwhile, Born of Osiris’s label mates Veil of Maya also have new material out – details of which can be seen here.
In addition to headlining the UK Download festival this summer, Metallica have also been confirmed as one of the headline acts to appear at the Finnish Sonisphere Festival.
As with their UK Download appearance, Finnish Metallica fans can expect to hear Metallica performing their self-titled ‘black album’ in it’s entirety.
Also confirmed to appear in Finland are Machine Head, Ghost and French metallers Gojira. More acts will be announced at a later date.
So far, no acts have been confirmed for the UK leg of Sonisphere.
Read a review of the Lou Reed/Metallica release ‘Lulu’ here.
Watch Metallica live at Sonisphere 2011 (Sweden) here.
Mark Reale will be best known to all as the guitarist and founding member of hard rock band Riot. On January 25th, the much-loved musician died following complications with Crohn’s Disease. He was 57 years old.
At the beginning of January, Reale was hospitalised; reports suggested he had suffered a Subarachnoid Hemorrhage and was in a coma. At the time Reale was taken ill, Riot were touring to promote their 2011 release ‘Immortal Soul’, released only two months previously.
A band seemingly dogged by bad luck, Reale is the third key figure in Riot’s history to pass away prematurely: the band’s first vocalist, Guy Speranza lost his life to pancreatic cancer at age 46, while second vocalist Rhett Forrester was shot and killed during a carjacking in 1994. The perpetrators have never been caught.
Riot formed in 1975 and released their first album ‘Rock City’ in 1977, followed by ‘Narita’ two years later. While these albums were instrumental in creating and tightening Riot’s sound, for many fans, 1981’s ‘Fire Down Under’ acted as the band’s breakthrough. In 1982, following the departure of vocalist Guy Speranza, Riot acheived greater attention with ‘Restless Breed’ – the band’s first album to feature vocalist Rhett Forrester.
After the first Riot break-up in the mid-80’s, Reale formed a new band named Narita which failed to get off the ground. He revived Riot in 1988, who subsequently released ‘Thundersteel’ – the first release with vocalist Tony Moore. As a sideline, Reale also teamed up with ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell in the late 90s to form the hard rock powerhouse Westworld. With Westworld, Reale never achieved any huge commercial success, but critically, the hard rock press were often more than enthusiastic with regards to the band.
Meanwhile, shifting line-ups in Riot never deterred Reale, who continued to record with the band throughout the 90s and beyond. The arrival of 2011’s ‘Immortal Soul’ had been particularly anticipated by the band’s fans, since not only was it Riot’s first studio record in five years, but it also marked the return of vocalist Tony Moore.
On Wednesday January 18th, just a week prior to his passing, Riot performed their first gig without Mark Reale.
He will be sadly missed by many fans of classic rock and melodic metal the world over.
