Heavy Metal News & Interviews: The Loaded Radio Podcast

Nirvana's Nevermind has passed AC/DC's Back In Black to become the sixth best-selling album of all time, by one thousand copies: 66,832,000 equivalent album sales to 66,831,000, per Chartmasters. AC/DC still lead on physical copies, 37 million to 30 million. Scott Penfold on how the count works, why the streaming number is the honest one, and the fact that should bother everyone: nothing released since 1991 is in the all-time top ten.

Also today: Alice Cooper's memoir Devil On My Shoulder hits No. 1 on the UK Sunday Times list and No. 4 on the New York Times list, the same week...

Slipknot drummer Eloy Casagrande says Clown told him on day one, "you don't have to be concerned about playing everything right," that the band "don't want to have another Joey in the band," and that the Brazilian rhythms Clown once shut down are now going into the studio. Scott Penfold on why that's the most important thing anyone has said about the next Slipknot album.

Also today: Mötley Crüe announce "Carnival of Sins in Sin City," eight nights at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace from March 19 to April 3, 2027, with fan-voted setlists and presales starting today. An...

Sleep Token have broken a year of silence with a rare statement saying they have "no affiliation with any outside musical project that invokes this name" and that such claims "are not made with our blessing." The band never names a target; fans are pointing at Arcus, a mystery project teased last month as being "from the co-creator of Sleep Token."

Also today: a Brent Council politician calls for Marilyn Manson to be removed from Slipknot's July 3, 2027 Wembley Stadium show, the council says it isn't their call, and Wembley says it is talking to Live Nation. Manson...

Dave Lombardo joins Scott Penfold six days after The Pulse Of Atoms, his first album with dark-ambient pioneer Lustmord, and one day after Reign In Blood turned forty. He explains why he 'wasn't ready' to make the Lustmord record twenty years ago, why he turned down William Shatner's metal album before calling back to say yes, and what happened in the backstage cubicle at Download 2004 when Metallica needed a drummer with hours to spare.

Also: Reign In Blood at 40 ('if I go into cardiac arrest, play Angel Of Death'), what Mike Patton taught him, the Misfits call...

Matt Heafy walked out of a Trivium recording session last year, called his wife and told her he was done with the band. He tells Metal Hammer what she said to send him back, why drummer Alex Bent left in October, and why Trivium are 'tighter live than we've ever been' ahead of Crown In The Grave on November 20. Scott on why the real headline is the one Heafy didn't say.

Also: Michael Amott says Arch Enemy are 'slowly working on a new album' with Lauren Hart, and why 'slowly' is the right word for a band...

Floor Jansen and Nightwish have parted ways after 14 years, 'in mutual agreement.' Tuomas Holopainen once said her leaving would be 'one hundred percent' the end of the band; instead Nightwish say they'll record a new album in 2027, and Floor's second solo album, Hytress, arrives January 15. Scott on three singers, three exits and one common factor.

Also: Sammy Hagar, 79 this week, tells Billboard he'd 'love to bury the hatchet with Alex' Van Halen, who called him 'a complete idiot' and hasn't spoken to him in 25 years. And Steve Harris books British Lion into the Cart & Horses, the 120...

Ian Hill explains why he left Judas Priest after 56 years: arthritis in his shoulder and thumb, six shows in eight days, a tendon that snapped in Brussels, and a decision he says he'd already made. 'I had no choice, really.' His bass is on the next Priest album, and he's open to encores if asked.

Also: Dream Theater post a studio photo and a hashtag, and album seventeen with Mike Portnoy is underway earlier than anyone said. And Sharon Osbourne finally explains why Megadeth weren't at Back To The Beginning: 'There was no time.' Scott's...

James Hetfield stopped Metallica's fourth Sphere show to tell the crowd what the band isn't: 'Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you.' He didn't name names. He didn't need to. Scott takes a side on whether a band gets to decide what its stage is for.

Also: Kelly Osbourne says she wrote 'Please help me' on a candle at Ozzy's grave and the next day Sharon arrived with the therapist who turned things around, and Butcher Babies' Heidi Shepherd says the hardest part of Carla Harvey leaving was losing 'a best friend...

Mastodon are pressing real mastodon fossil into vinyl. The Bone Dust Edition of Marrow Deep is 170 copies at $150, made from a bag of 11,000-year-old mastodon teeth the band was given twenty years ago, ground to powder and pressed into the wax. You can't buy it; you enter a raffle.

Also: audio of Black Sabbath's lost 1970 Dutch TV set, which the broadcaster said burned in a fire, has surfaced as The Lost 1970 Avro Sessions, and Metallica add 'Until It Sleeps' at their fourth Sphere show after 'Devil's Dance', 'The Outlaw Torn' and 'Fade To Black'. Scott picks which...

Kenny Hickey of Type O Negative, in full: the live album is almost edited, Mike Marciano is mixing it and the target is early 2027; 'Prometheus', the unreleased Peter Steele song found on a cassette, will be released; and Hickey explains what Peter was carrying when the band made World Coming Down.

Then the bands working now. Silvertomb's The Interpretation Of Nightmares is out November 13 on Steamhammer, seven years after the first album. Sun Don't Shine, with Johnny Kelly, Kirk Windstein and Todd Strange, has its debut From Birth To Death out. Plus October Rust at 30, Josh Silver...

Def Leppard announce a 45-date 2027 North American arena tour with Goo Goo Dolls and The Struts, March 2 in Allentown to July 2 in Indianapolis, with five Canadian stops. A dollar from every ticket goes to City of Hope, where Vivian Campbell is being treated after revealing his cancer has returned.

Also: Los Angeles declares November 13 Billy Idol Day, with a free City Hall set from Idol and Steve Stevens the day before their Rock Hall induction, and Deafheaven surprise-release the three-song At Work In The Fields Of The Bomb EP, which Kerry McCoy calls their heaviest ever. Scott...

Black Sabbath nearly made one last album with the original four. Producer Andrew Watt says Ozzy, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler were all in and the plan died with a long email from Bill Ward, but Iommi told Classic Rock this summer he never wanted a follow-up to 13. Scott picks a side.

Also: the Osbourne family host the purple-carpet world premiere of Ozzy & Black Sabbath: Back To The Beginning in Los Angeles on October 14 ahead of its worldwide cinema run from October 28, and Slayer mark 40 years of Reign In Blood with a liquid-filled zoetrope vinyl, out November 20.<...

Dave Mustaine says Megadeth's number one farewell album may not be the last word: at a Grammy Museum Q&A he revealed plans to go through the "half-songs" left over from the sessions to see if any are worth finishing, stressing it would only come from recordings already made. Scott explains why the word "final" is the one to watch.

Also: Randy Blythe says he didn't know Lamb Of God had a new logo until he saw the Into Oblivion artwork ("nobody tells me anything"), and Staind announce a 27-date second leg of the Break The Cycle 25...

Sepultura's last show ever moved from a 26,000-capacity stadium to a 9,000-seat hall, and the band added an intimate 'Last Ceremony' event two nights before the finale. Scott argues the downgrade is the most honest thing a metal band has done this year, and answers the 'not without the Cavaleras' crowd.

Also: the Scorpions biopic Wind Of Change has a trailer and a January 2027 release date, with Dominic West as Doc McGhee. And Chad Gray cancels two solo shows over 'deep vocal issues' with a statement more singers should copy.

0:00 Sepultura: the smaller goodbye and...

Metallica played a completely different 16-song set on night two at the Las Vegas Sphere, including "Devil's Dance" for the first time since 2008 and "The Outlaw Torn" for the first time in seven years. Two shows into the residency, that's four songs most of the room had never seen them play.

Also: Ice Nine Kills announce the Christmas EP "A Very Vicious Christmas" (November 9), built from their Terrifier Terror Tram music, and confirm "The Silver Scream 3: Every Flick In The Book" for 2027. And Voivod cancel their October US tour with BAT over a "family health emergency," with...

Left To Suffer guitarist Peter Higgs joins the show days before Unwelcome Guest, the Atlanta band's first album for Hopeless Records, mid-way through a 32-date tour opening for Dying Fetus and Sanguisugabogg. Who "STFU" was really aimed at, why the new record has one guest feature instead of several, what Hopeless changed, and which song he's most nervous to play live.

Then Dead Poet Society frontman Jack Underkofler on Monarch, out now on Spinefarm: producer Paul Meany of Mutemath, the fight over "Lost," what "djent pop" actually means, how a Mexican blog broke the band before America...

Metallica opened their Las Vegas Sphere residency with a 16-song set that included "...And Justice for All" for the first time since 2014 and "The Call of Ktulu" dedicated to Cliff Burton, 40 years after his death. Twenty-four shows run through March, and the band says no two weekends get the same set list.

Also: Kid Rock announces a Christian album, "Halfway To Jesus," out October 17 with Eminem on "7 Sins," saying he and Em "differ politically" but "stayed friends through it all." And original Venom guitarist Mantas pays tribute to Cronos: "We changed the direction, the movement and the...

Slipknot's Jim Root has answered the Marilyn Manson backlash — by saying he doesn't know who the band tours with. "I stay out of the logistics of touring," he told a fan on Instagram. "Forgive my ignorance about who we do shows with." Manson denies all allegations; the LA DA closed its investigation with no charges. The Take: fans weren't asking about logistics.

Also: Pete Sandoval quits I Am Morbid, saying he and David Vincent "can't continue working together," after learning another drummer had been hired for Europe. And Alice Cooper, ahead of his memoir Devil On My Sh...

Slipknot fans are pushing back on Marilyn Manson's spot on the 2027 stadium tour — six dates including Wembley — with some vowing to skip his shows. Manson denies all allegations against him, and the LA DA closed a four-year investigation without charges. Neither band has responded. The Take: look at where Manson is on this tour, and where he isn't.

Also: Anthrax's Scott Ian and Charlie Benante tell Eddie Trunk they're not retiring despite an album called Cursum Perficio ("I finish the journey") — "You built the store. Why close it?" And ex-Fear Factory members Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrer...

Slipknot's Jim Root says the new album is "gonna hurt some feelings" — no repeat of Iowa or the self-titled, and when a fan begged for "heavy, not Stone Sour," Root replied "Agreed." Tracked live with Eloy Casagrande, all analogue, Matt Wallace producing.

Also, a Loaded Radio exclusive: Kenny Hickey tells Scott the unreleased Type O Negative song from the October Rust sessions is called "Prometheus," and the live album lands in Q1 2027. And North Tonawanda is building a statue and bench for Every Time I Die's Andy Williams, who died this month at 48.

Metal Breakdown Da...

Nirvana accepted the MTV Video Vanguard Award, and Krist Novoselic used the moment to call Kurt Cobain "one of one." Dave Grohl, Krist and Pat Smear took the stage with no performance, just a montage and a speech — the first rock band to receive the award since Duran Duran in 2003, in the same year MTV dropped its rock category.

Also: Korn's Fieldy and Brian "Head" Welch shared a stage for the first time since 2019, playing "Sabotage" with P.O.D. and Lacey Sturm at The Whosoevers' new Boise HQ. And GWAR have confirmed the death of co-founder Ch...

Knocked Loose have quietly become the single biggest donor to Jamie Ulshoffer, the woman left paralysed when a man fell from a tree onto her during the band's Louder Than Life set. No statement, no press release — just $8,000. Scott Penfold on who actually ends up carrying this.

Also: Jamey Jasta on the one sentence James Hetfield gave him backstage in 2008 that got him sober. And Ill Niño's Dave Chavarri and Laz Pina have filed against former guitarist Marc Rizzo in a Dallas court — allegations at this stage, unruled on, and Rizzo has not publicly responded.

Her...

Bullet For My Valentine have announced their eighth album, 'Social Apocalypse', out 19 March 2027 on Spinefarm, with Will Ramos of Lorna Shore and Chrissy Costanza of Against The Current guesting. Scott Penfold on what the Ramos feature really means.

Also: King Diamond reissues 'Halloween' as a picture disc on 23 October. And Louisa Livingstone, the woman on Black Sabbath's 1970 debut cover and unidentified for fifty years, has released a rock opera about Alice in Wonderland falling for an AI chatbot, with a sharper take on AI than most of this scene.

Metal Breakdown Daily is Loaded Radio's...

Rose Tattoo frontman Angry Anderson has died at 79, weeks after suffering a heart attack during the band's European farewell tour. Scott Penfold looks back at fifty years, eight albums and the song Guns N' Roses made famous, plus Slash's tribute to his friend.

Also: the campaign to build a Neil Peart memorial in St. Catharines, Ontario has hit $1 million, with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson handing over a cheque for $785,000. Two bronze sculptures are going into Lakeside Park, the place that gave Peart a song title, with an opening planned for late 2027. And Maria Brink has confirmed...

Slipknot have plastered cryptic posters across ten cities in the Americas, pointing to a site that spits out the numbers 9 and 28. Scott Penfold breaks down what's coming, why 'Arsenal' has split the fanbase, and why the tour will be judged on the first night this lineup plays it live.

TMZ reports that Axl Rose is mentoring Carrie Underwood on a rock project. Neither has confirmed it, but four years of shared stages, from Stagecoach to Atlanta, make it easy to believe. Plus, Brent Hinds' estate has put out a new statement on its lawsuit against Mastodon, covering...

New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert has died at the age of 45, following a cancer diagnosis in 2021. The band said he passed peacefully in his sleep on the morning of September 20, with his wife and mother beside him, and described his favourite accomplishment as being a husband and father. He founded New Found Glory at sixteen and made their first album with $300 he'd saved from a movie theatre job.

Also on this episode: DragonForce frontman Marc Hudson steps back from the band's new album and 2026/2027 touring due to ongoing tinnitus, with Herman Li saying protecting his hearing "...

Emmure frontman Frankie Palmeri says Glenn Danzig's security removed him from the side of the stage at Louder Than Life in Louisville and took his access pass, after he attempted to strike up a conversation while watching Pantera perform. Palmeri responded publicly and did not hold back.

Also on this episode: Pepper Keenan of Corrosion of Conformity and Down confirms he's working on the first solo album of his career — 36 years after joining COC — telling the We Wreck Records podcast he's "pulling out all the stops on this sucker," and revealing he's been saving songs for years wait...

Ozzy & Black Sabbath: Back To The Beginning gets a worldwide theatrical release from October 28, documenting Ozzy Osbourne's final performance at Villa Park on July 5, 2025 — including the original Black Sabbath lineup's first show together in over twenty years, seventeen days before his death. Produced by Mercury Studios and distributed by Trafalgar Releasing, with tickets on sale September 24. Sharon Osbourne on how the show came about: "I asked Ozzy what would really make him happy. And he said the only thing that would make him happy was if he could perform again and say goodbye to his fans."

Also on...

David Ellefson has announced the December leg of his Bass Warrior European tour, and he'll be playing Megadeth's Countdown To Extinction in its entirety across twelve dates from December 3 to 19 — five days after Dave Mustaine's memoir excerpt claimed Ellefson's time in the band was finished regardless of the 2021 scandal. Ellefson has previously said of his 2010 return as a salaried player: "In order to have a friendship, I had to give up some ownership."

Also on this episode: MNRK Music Group have acquired the complete recorded catalogue of Black Label Society — eleven studio albums plus live releases, compilations, EPs...

David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen have appeared together in public for the first time in years, sitting alongside muralist Robert Vargas at a TEDxFargo event about why great art requires risk. Roth called it "a step towards world peace"; Alex said the most important thing in art is to learn the basics and then break all the rules. It lands months after Alex told a Brazilian magazine that Sammy Hagar — who sang on four consecutive Van Halen number ones — is "a complete idiot," and after leaving him out of his memoir entirely.

Also on this epis...

Tony Iommi has told Classic Rock that producer Andrew Watt — the man behind Ozzy Osbourne's final two solo albums — offered to record one more Black Sabbath album with the original lineup, Bill Ward included, and that he turned it down. Iommi said Watt was "a bit too excited" and didn't understand what working with the original band was like, adding that having already been through the 13 sessions with Rick Rubin he didn't want to go straight into another record.

Also on this episode: Nicko McBrain tells Metal Hammer he'd be "delighted" to drum on Iron Maiden's next albu...

Miss May I frontman Levi Benton joins Scott Penfold on the Loaded Radio Podcast to talk about the band's eighth album No Place For Me, out October 2 via Solid State Records — a record he's described as everything he's felt for a long time but never had the words for. We get into where it came from, the decision to release five singles from a ten-track album, the entirely DIY video for "Death Threat," and nineteen years fronting a band from Troy, Ohio that outlasted most of the scene it came from. Plus the Perpetual Iron tour with Born of Os...

Rolling Stone has published an excerpt from Dave Mustaine's memoir In My Darkest Hour in which he writes that David Ellefson's time in Megadeth "was likely near" its end even before the 2021 leaked-video scandal that got him fired — reflecting on their 2004 lawsuit, Ellefson's 2010 return as a salaried player rather than a creative partner, and a friendship he says was built on shared addiction. For the record: the person Ellefson was involved with was nineteen, the grooming allegations made online were false, and Ellefson reported the unauthorised distribution of the footage to police himself.

Also on this episode: Su...

Soundgarden reunited at halftime of the Seahawks–Patriots game at Lumen Field with Taylor Momsen on vocals and Pearl Jam's Mike McCready on guitar, playing a medley including "Outshined" and "Spoonman" — and NBC aired little to none of it, sending fans straight to social media. Their final album featuring Chris Cornell's last recordings is currently in post-production.

Also on this episode: AC/DC's September 16 show at Toronto's Rogers Stadium has been cancelled outright after a storm the venue's own meteorologist called a hundred-year event, with damaged sections needing to be removed and rebuilt before next summer. And AEW...

Jim Root has confirmed Slipknot are tracking their eighth studio album — the first without Sid Wilson, the first with Eloy Casagrande, and the first with no record label since 1998. Producer Matt Wallace is behind the board and the band went in with around fifty song ideas.

Also on this episode: King Diamond breaks his silence on splitting with Andy La Rocque after forty years, explains why Gus G is replacing him, and reveals he wrote seventy percent of the band's music himself. And As I Lay Dying finish their ninth album with twelve songs recorded and only te...

Tuesday, September 8, 2026. Live Nation tease "The Great NOLA Trendkill" at New Orleans' Lakefront Arena, with a rumored lineup including Pantera, Down, Crowbar, Corrosion Of Conformity, Eyehategod, Power Trip and Pig Destroyer. Gene Simmons speaks at length with Michael Moynihan about Ace Frehley's death, his influence on a generation of guitar players, the empty chair at the Kennedy Center Honors, and his current relationship with Peter Criss. And Enjoy Wrestling co-owner Kurt Hackimer issues a full statement to KDKA on what happened to Andy Williams at Saturday's event in Pennsylvania.

Scott Penfold breaks it all down in under...

Friday, September 4, 2026. 70000 Tons Of Metal reveals the first thirty bands for its January 2027 sailing — Exodus, Arch Enemy, HammerFall, Moonspell, Obscura and more — with public tickets going on sale Monday and only 3,000 spots available. Static-X, Tony Campos and frontman Edsel Dope file a lawsuit against filmmaker Matt Zane alleging copyright infringement, false light and more, seeking damages in excess of $1 million. And Wage War announce their new album Landfall for October 9 via Fearless, premiering the title track.

Scott Penfold breaks it all down in under five minutes.

Full stories at loadedradio.com. Stream Loaded Radio 24/7 or down...

Thursday, September 3, 2026. Iron Maiden bring their Eddie's Dive Bar meetups to the United States for the first time — ten dates alongside the Run For Your Lives leg opening Saturday in New Jersey, free and open to the public, pouring the new Trooper West Coast IPA brewed with Lagunitas. Scorpions postpone their Planet Hollywood residency by a full year, citing unforeseen circumstances, with new dates in September 2027. And Carcass reschedule their Australia, New Zealand, China and India dates after drummer Dan Wilding is faced with a family emergency, while urging fans to still attend Bangalore Open Air.

Scott Pe...

Wednesday, September 2, 2026. Alex Van Halen receives the Netherlands' highest civilian knighthood in Nijmegen, the city he and Eddie left as children in 1962. Stryper's Michael Sweet explains why he'd never join King Diamond's band but would tour with Mercyful Fate in a heartbeat, and tells the story of meeting Kim Petersen backstage in Mexico. And AJ Rebollo publicly corrects his own account of leaving Bad Wolves, confirming Dolly Parton's team blessed the "Jolene" cover and that founder John Boecklin approved the release.

Scott Penfold breaks it all down in under five minutes.

Full stories at loadedradio...

Tuesday, September 1, 2026. Rush add four new US arena dates to the Fifty Something tour, with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson explaining they built in recovery time they turned out not to need. Epica announce a 25th anniversary show at London's Royal Albert Hall on October 6, 2027, with a full orchestra and choir. And former Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg opens up to HeartSupport about seeking therapy after his November 2023 dismissal, describing the search for the right therapist and why the first one not fitting shouldn't be the end of it.

Scott Penfold breaks it all down in under five...