Ozzy Osbourne Explains Black Sabbath's Origins In Animated Video

The original members of Black Sabbath-Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward-came of age during the "Age of Aquarius." You don't hear a lot of Summer of Love as an influence on their music because they didn't experience it in their hometown of Birmingham, England, which was a hard, bleak and industrial city. The music that they were playing, even in the early days when they were known as Earth, was considerably darker than most of the "peace and love" sentiment prevalent during the era.

As such, it should be no surprise that the band found their name during a rehearsal held near a theater showing a horror film. Osbourne recalled, "One day, Tony says, 'Don't you think it's strange that people pay money to go and get scared to death at horror movies?'"

It was a question that resonated with them and so band decided to bring horror to their music. "In our original format, we were a jazz/blues band," Osbourne said, referring to an early incarnation of the group called the Polka Tulk Blues Band. When they took that music and made it a bit more demonic, as Osbourne says, "It just clicked."

Indeed, some might argue that the music we now know as "heavy metal" was born, or spawned, in that rehearsal space with a little thanks to the influence of 1970s horror flicks.

Watch the video here.

Rammstein Frontman Previews Lindemann Debut

Due in May, the record sees the singer - who announced the project on his 52nd birthday in January - team up with Swedish producer Peter Tagtgren, who also fronts death metal outfit Hypocrisy and his own project, Pain.

One of the few people to have heard Lindemann's music up to this point is Raubtier singer Par Hulkoff. He says on Facebook: "The small parts I heard really blew my mind! Keep your eyes open. This will echo in eternity."

Check out the preview here.

Bob Dylan Goes Gangster For 'The Night We Called It A Day' Video

Filmed in old-school black and white noir style, the clip was directed by Nash Edgerton, who also directed a rather violent video for "Duquesne Whistle" from Dylan's last album, 2012's Tempest.

But where in "Duquesne Whistle" Bob was not actually part of the violence, in "The Night We Called It A Day," he's the mastermind, even occasionally pulling the trigger.

Watch it here.

Bad Company Release New Version Of Classic Song

The second disc of the Deluxe Edition of Bad Company includes eight previously unreleased recordings, including the original demo of The Way I Choose, an unreleased take of Bad Company, and an unedited version of Superstar Woman, a song that Rodgers later recorded in 1983 for his solo album Cut Loose. Also featured is the single edit of Can't Get Enough, and the single b-sides Little Miss Fortune and Easy On My Soul.

Extra material from the second album includes a stripped-down version of Shooting Star, a remix of Good Lovin' Gone Bad with alternative guitar and vocals tracks, and the previously unreleased See The Sunlight and All Night Long.

Listen to the new version of "Feel Like Makin' Love" here.

Anthrax's Scott Ian Guest Stars On The Walking Dead

Ian recently previewed his cameo with a behind the scenes look at the production of the series in an episode of his horror FX show for Nerdist, "Scott Ian's Bloodworks" (formerly "Blood & Guts").

A huge fan of the genre and the show, Ian previously appeared in a "Walking Dead" webisode in 2011. "I read the comic," says Ian. "I started reading Walking Dead when it came out and then the show came on. I'm a massive fan of the show. I just felt like, from the start, [that] it would be the coolest f***ing thing if I could ever get to be a walker.

"I got to do the webisode thing and that was awesome, and I remember [producer] Greg [Nicotero] telling me at one point that 'everyone in the business wants to come be a walker, so we kind of put the kibosh on all of that'. I figured that at least I got to the webisodes, that's cool enough. I didn't think it would ever happen."

Watch Ian's appearance here.

The Gentle Storm Release 'Heart Of Amsterdam' Video

Van Giersbergen says of the track: "It's a tribute to the city of Amsterdam - the home town of the story's leading character, Susanne. Seventeenth-century Amsterdam was a centre of shipping, shipbuilding, and trade. It flourished, and a wonderful city was the result.

"We shot the video in the centre of the city. It was freezing cold and I couldn't move my fingers during the last shots - but it was all worth it." Watch the video here.

Beth Hart Streaming New Song 'Mechanical Heart'

Grammy-nominated Hart recently said of the follow-up to Bang Bang Boom Boom: "This record is not like that aesthetic. I bounce all over the place, man. I've got multiple personalities. A lot of them.

"Keep working on telling the truth - that's my mantra for the music. Tell the truth, work your ass off, and keep going there. I've got four things I have to do and the rest I leave to the wind - pray, work out, eat right, and keep in contact with my doctor."

Stream the song here.

Kamelot Tease New Album 'Haven'

It was produced by Sascha Paeth and features guest appearances by Arch Enemy's Alissa White-Gluz, Nightwish's Troy Donockley and Charlotte Wessels of Delain.

Keyboardist Oliver Palotai says: "Haven has an aggressive edge to it that is the representation of the band as The Revolutionary Change in the storyline."

Vocalist Tommy Karevik adds: "The songs run the gamut from dark and melancholy to uplifting and melodic elements." Check out the video here.

Wino & Conny Ochs Streaming New Song 'Shards'

"Sh*t's changin' fast," says former Obsessed and Saint Vitus guitarist Scott "Wino" Weinrich. "With war on every corner, political theatre becoming increasingly more offensive, and Big Brother and the Globalists intensifying their slow takeover, we offer sounds and vibrations of love, death, happiness and pain! With this music and verse we hope the songs will inspire and uplift, and hopefully unite our searching spirits."

"Freedom Conspiracy means companionship," adds Conny Ochs. "It means to have each other's back. This album is about losing and finding belief. And fighting for it."

Listen to the song here.

Singled Out: Subversion's Imperfect

'Imperfect' started life as just a couple of riffs I would screw around with at practice a good few years back. I always wanted to do more with it but never quite felt I had progressed as a player enough to finally get the point across. However, with the "Animi" album, I came back to this and had a totally fresh feel for it.

I can kind of explain its sound by the subject matter within the album, and where this track fits in on this album. The story of Animi (Minds) is one of human incompatibility. We are a sort of failed experiment and have basically caused nature itself to turn on us; regretting ever having let us exist.

The earlier tracks on the album tell the birth of human kind and its unrelenting inability to control its anger and imperfections. 'Imperfect' is the 3rd track on the album and delves in to how Humanity uses aggression to get ahead in life.

People have found it is quicker and easier to achieve what they want by stepping on others, thus being selfish and impulsive. People within the lore of this album, have demons inside their heads, telling them to give into temptation in order to achieve their wants and desires. Unfortunately we have reached a point where the only way to be free of these demons is to pass away from this life.

The world begins to think about turning against us having seen that we are unable to change; Despite any progress we have made and all the advances in technology, we have brought forward our primitive way of looking at things e.g. "if you do not believe what I believe, you are wrong, and I am better than you" (Sounds like most people now days, haha).

The whole concept I guess is influenced by the same sort of ideas and mythology you would find behind films like "Princess Mononoke" or "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind", but less magical, more spacey�but basically, the universe fights back.

By the end of this track, we are begging for a second chance.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself as you watch the video here and learn more about the album right here!

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