Mad About Rock

  Japanese rockers MAN WITH A MISSION is one of the most successful rock bands in Asia. The half-man, half-wolf collective consist of Tokyo Tanaka (vocals), Jean-Ken Johnny (guitar, vocals, rap), Kamikaze Boy (bass), DJ Santa Monica (DJ), Spear Rib (drums). They have been a part of major cultural moments in Japan and beyond. Their songs have soundtracked numerous films, TV shows, video games, sporting events and TV commercials (as you will find out below). They have recently released two new tracks, which are the opening and closing theme songs for the massively popular anime series Demon Slayer. They will bring their new songs to audiences across the globe with The Wolves On Parade tour, which kicks off in the US on May (14th), and they will hit the UK and Europe for a string of June dates. We caught up with Jean-Ken Johnny to learn more about their new singles, their tour and more! So firstly, let’s get the obvious questions out the way – how did you arrive at your band name and ...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24 FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Afterlife Multi-platinum hard rock powerhouse, Five Finger Death Punch, released their ninth studio album, “Afterlife” this year. The band are one of the most successful rock acts in modern music. Having amassed 25 top 10 hit singles and 13 #1 singles. Having become one of the most recognizable names in music, 5FDP frequently play all major festivals and sell out arenas around the world. Since their debut album, The Way of the Fist came out in 2007 the band has released seven consecutive albums that were certified Gold or Platinum by the RIAA, as well as two chart topping Greatest Hits albums. In addition, 5FDP has earned num...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23 NOTHING MORE Spirits Three-time Grammy-nominated rock outfit NOTHING MORE’s latest studio album Spirits pairs unapologetically massive anthems, catchy hooks, and progressive music with introspective, philosophical lyrics and thought-provoking emotionalism. From the Top 5 Active Rock charting lead single “Tired Of Winning” and its fan-driven extended version “Tired Of Winning/Ships In The Night” to fist-pounding banger “Turn It Up Like” and their most recent impassioned single “You Don’t Know What Love Means,” Spirits documents the impact the past two years of lockdown and turmoil has had on the world, capturing society’s desperation, mental health stru...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22 THE HU Rumble Of Thunder What more can be said of The HU? Most recently the band received a very special UNESCO “Artist For Peace” Designation. The first heavy music band to receive such an honor. Hailing from Mongolia, The HU have combined traditional music and instrumentation performed in their native language using native instrumentation with Western modern rock stylings to create a unique and catchy sound they have labelled as “Hunnu Rock.” Across its 12 tracks, Rumble Of Thunder connects the world to Mongolian culture and its unique core values of natural preservation and spiritual connection with the earth. These core values are on full disp...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21 BAD WOLVES Dear Monsters – Deluxe Platinum-selling, chart-topping LA rockers Bad Wolves released their third studio album Dear Monsters on October 29, 2021 and it quickly become a fan-favourite. After a year of release, Dear Monsters has accumulated 47 million streams and a combined 5 million video views! This new digital deluxe edition also features all of the music included on the If Tomorrow Never Comes and Sacred Kiss EP’s, giving fans the chance to enjoy tracks like “If Tomorrow Never Comes (ft. Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills),” “The Body,” “Sacred Kiss (ft. Aaron Pauley from Of Mice & Men),” “Up In Smoke,” and “I Don't Wanna Feel” all i...

Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20 ASKING ALEXANDRIA See What’s On The Inside – Deluxe Asking Alexandria’s See What’s On The Inside (Deluxe) includes music from the Never Gonna Learn EP and acoustic versions of the title track, “Never Gonna Learn,” “Find Myself,” “Faded Out,” and “Alone Again.” Most recently, the band released a chilling music video for “Faded Out (ft. Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation),” which appears on The Retaliators Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. “The deluxe edition of See What’s On The Inside is the culmination of work that we poured our entire selves into. It’s the entire journey, from start to finish of a truly special album to us that includes acoustic trac...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! MONDAY, DECEMBER 19 DIRTY HEADS Midnight Control California reggae-influenced Dirty Heads dropped their 8th studio album Midnight Control earlier in the year. Dirty Heads are currently out streaming some of the biggest alternative acts in the U.S., with nearly 2 BILLION total streams on-demand + programmed! "Midnight Control is the culmination of almost twenty years of musical exploration, creativity, and our love for creating original impactful art and music,” vocalist Jared Watson said. “It’s the best album we’ve ever written, and I think that’s due to the fact we have been through so much, done so much, and are comfortable as songwriters, producers, players and human ...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18 VARIOUS ARTISTS The Retaliators Soundtrack Garnering a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes during its film festival run across the most prestigious horror film festivals, The Retaliators centers on an upstanding pastor, who uncovers a dark and twisted underworld as he searches for answers surrounding his daughter’s brutal murder. A brutal movie needs a brutal soundtrack and The Retaliators OST sure does! Led by the Mötley Crüe track “The Retaliators Theme Song (21 Bullets)” and featuring songs from Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria, Crossbone Skully, Cory Marks and many more, the loudest record of the year! The Ret...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17 FIRE FROM THE GODS Soul Revolution Fire From The Gods have adopted a unifying mission statement, “All Power to All People,” a play on the revolutionary slogan “All Power to the People.” You can hear that statement reflected in Soul Revolution, as the band aims to empower all fans through their music. Songs such as the singles, “Love Is Dangerous,” “SOS,” “Soul Revolution,” “Thousand Lifetimes,” and “World So Cold.” explored themes of self realization and discovery, unifying amidst personal revolution, motherhood, and resilience. Having officially surpassed 100M streams on their Spotify catalog, this new body of work masterfully blends feelings of in...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16 THE RETALIATORS SCORE from Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein The revenge horror thriller of the year, The Retaliators was released mid year in over 1000 cinemas across the world to global praise! The epic score to the movie was written by Stranger Things, Emmy-Winning Composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Steinwho also contributed the bonus track, Cops Are Here to an already incredible soundtrack The Retaliators Score is available from theretaliators.ffm.to/retaliatorssscore Check out Better Noise Music on Bandcamp, for music, merch and more:: betternoisemusic.bandcamp.com CONNECT WITH BETTER NOISE Website | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify | Instagram ...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15 EVA UNDER FIRE Love, Drugs & Misery This September, Detroit rockers Eva Under Fire released their long-awaited debut album Love, Drugs & Misery. With tracks such as “Coming For Blood (ft. Matt Brandyberry of From Ashes To New),” and “Blow (ft. Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills),” which is featured in The Retaliators soundtrack, “Comatose,” “Unstoppable,” and the Sno Babies soundtrack single “Heroin(e)” the album is filled with a diverse selection of music, with each track sounding different to the last. Eva Under Fire's hybrid of rock, metal, pop and classic rock as something wholly unique. Love, Drugs & Misery is available from evaund...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14 CLASSLESS ACT Welcome To The Show On June 24, Classless Act, one of the most buzzed-about up-and-coming rock bands released their incredible debut album Welcome To The Show. Having already earned more than one million streams, the new album gained early traction with singles “Classless Act” that features a guest appearance by Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil, the catchy “This Is For You” with Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, and the bombastic “Time To Bleed.” With an appearance on The Retaliators soundtrack and touring all summer long in the US with Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard, Classless Act have most definitely arrived! Welcome To The Show is available fro...

  Better Noise Music, home to bands including Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, NOTHING MORE, Bad Wolves, Asking Alexandria and many more, present their 12 Days of Xmas! Each day beginning from Tuesday, December 13 until Xmas Eve, Better Noise will highlight some of the biggest albums they have released this year! TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13 AWOLNATION My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me Diamond-selling alternative act AWOLNATION released My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me on May 6 The album includes collaborations with Beck, Jewel, Portugal. The Man, Taylor Hanson of Hanson, Brandon Boyd of Incubus, and more. The project is a collection of masterfully crafted and carefully curated covers, with each track featuring at least one acclaimed musical artist with whom AWOLNATION’s founder Aaron Bruno has a personal connection. The aim of the project is to illustrate the healing power of music and to celebrate the collaborative spirit of the artistic community. My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers ...

  A Northampton, UK based guitar teacher has turned their business and its industry on its head throughout this years’ lockdowns. This guitar school  has cracked the code for motivating new and old guitar players alike. Rory, (29) has been a guitar teacher for (15) years but when the first lockdown hit in March he realised he needed to make some big changes. His students were keen to keep playing but he was unable to meet any of them in person. In amongst a web of phone calls, e-mails and Zoom lessons, an idea sprung into his mind. What if there was a way to make guitar lessons a game. Not like Guitar Hero, but in a way that actually allowed the students to understand the music and the instrument itself. As someone who knows what it’s like to learn guitar, Rory found that the biggest problem guitar players find when it comes to practicing is motivation. It’s often way more tempting to watch TV or to play a game, especially when you’re new to an instrument. What’s the motivatio...

December 2017 saw the creators of love metal, Finnish band HIM calling it a day.  It hasn't been long but they are missed dearly already so we decided to be nostalgic and look back at some of their best music videos especially in aid of Valentine's day on the 14th February and them being the creators of 'love metal'. So let's take a look at 5 essential HIM videos to check out... Funeral Of Hearts This is a very scenic and beautifully gothic video in the snowy setting with decorative fire and with symbolism throughout. It captures their Finnish and love metal essence. An essential masterful video from the band. Wings Of A Butterfly It is very atmospheric, dark and cinematic video and well produced, making it one of their best  and most stand out videos. The song is ridiculously catchy also, again another must-see video in their releases. Buried Alive By Love This was one of their best and most popular songs and videos. Set in an ol...

Masters of Metal, Metallica have released nine records over two decades, cementing them as one of the big four metal bands. In that time, they have released their classic and most popular singles that helped make them one of the biggest well know metal acts today, and with each single comes a video to do the song ‘justice’! Let's take a look at some of the best visual offerings that you might have somehow forgotten and look at why they are so awesome. So here are six examples of Metallica at their finest and strangest: The Unforgiven  Released in 1991, this was their third official video. This is one of their most epic and intense. It has a classic and serious feel to it too, being all in black and white too. The theme is about a boy born in captivity, and as the video progresses, he turns into an old man...and no, this isn't a pun about the theatrical cut being 11 and a half minutes long! The unfortunate character featured spends his life carving into stone to c...

So everyone loves a good Zombie film, program or game! With the return of the biggest Zombie TV show, the  majorly successful   The Walking Dead I thought this would be a good opportunity to look at some of the best zombie inspired/themed rock offerings to 'get your teeth into'! Not all songs are strictly about zombies in this post, and in the extended playlist below, but they are related/associated in some way and can easily be linked to them!  Get yourself in a zombie state of mind below!! To get things in motion in a crazy fast fashion, it has to be what I think is one of the best Zombie inspired songs by one of the biggest metal bands from the US! This song featured on the movie soundtrack for the first Resident Evil film, which is inspired by the popular Capcom games. Be prepared to lose your shit!! Slipknot - My Plague It would be offensive to not feature this next song/artist as they embody the very essence of the living ...

The well know Heartagram Logo from Finnish rock band, HIM who described their music as 'Love Metal.' It's Valentine's Day on February 14th, so I thought I would look at some of my favourite love-related metal/rock songs to share with you! I have kept it mostly modern and tried to have a bit of variation in terms of the lyrical content of love and the spectrum of rock genres, from Classic Rock to Pop Punk! As there are so many to choose from! So first, I'm going to kick off with an early Paramore song (the band chose this name, as it was the maiden name of the bass player's mother at the time, then they learnt that 'paramour' meant "secret lover, they adopted name but altered the spelling!) From their first debut album, All We Know Is Falling (2005) - My Heart  The song closes the band's debut with a welcomed surprise, being the only Paramore song to feature screamed vocals from then guitarist Josh Farro, who, along with Hay...

This Australian melodic rock quartet The Lockhearts haven’t been together for long, forming in 2012. They started out headlining weekly at the Spectrum in Sydney allowing them to develop and engulf a local fan base, and then here they are exploding onto the scene with their debut music video for “Freakshow” (directed by Tanzeal Rahim) and being heavily backed by MTV who have heavily played the video which has swept in to claim the number two spot at peak in the hit charts!   Its not hard to see why MTV are on board with the band as this powerhouse rock act have jumped right in and made their presence known with an unique and exciting driven sound. The accompanying video adds to their appeal with a flair of passion, enthusiasm and crazy fun antics! This band are having a blast and have tones of energy and flamboyance to go along with their rock ‘n’ roll attitude. The visuals in the video have high impact and an almost psychedelic feel being very creative and cool with fluorescent ...