April Album Releases: Ghost, L.A. Guns, Epica, Machine Head & Smith/Kotzen
Smith/Kotzen: Black Light/White Noise
Release Date: 4/4
The album by guitarists Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs) features the lead single “White Noise.”
“The song is about the rise of social media, how people get addicted to it,” explained Smith.
For “Black Light” Smith wanted a song “inspired by some of my old Hard Rock or Blues (and then) go into a more progressive feel.”
L.A. Guns: Leopard Skin
Release Date: 4/4
“The work ethic is yielding what it’s supposed to,” founder/guitarist Tracii Guns noted. “Fans stay excited, we stay excited, and we keep making records. “
The Waterboys: Life, Death And Dennis Hopper
Release Date: 4/4
“The arc of his life was the story of our times,” shared The Waterboys frontman Mike Scott. “He was at the big bang of youth culture in Rebel Without A Cause with James Dean; and the beginnings of Pop Art with the young Andy Warhol.
The tribute to the trailblazing actor includes performances by Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Fiona Apple.
Epica: Aspiral
Release Date: 4/11
The title of the band’s ninth studio album, referencing renewal and inspiration, is derived from a sculpture created in ’65 by Polish artist Stanisław Szukalski.
Singles from the album include “Arcana,” “Cross The Divide” and “T.I.M.E.” (an acronym for “Transformation, Integration, Metamorphosis and Evolution”).
Ghost: Skeletá
Release Date: 4/11
The band’s sixth full-length effort contains “Satanized” which was described in a press release as “an avalanche of infectious hooks and harmonies buoyed by a hypnotic shuffle, as the narrator succumbs to dark forces within and without, helplessly acknowledging their own blasphemy and heresy as it inexorably consumes them.”
Machine Head: Unatoned
Release Date: 4/25
Machine Head’s eleventh album is the first to feature drummer Matt Alston and lead guitarist Reece Scruggs.
A band press release says the album “drips with melancholy melodies, and yet hammers with bludgeoning riffs, soars with anthemic sing-alongs of love lost and sadness, to bellowing power and undeniable confidence.”
Wednesday 13: Mid-Death Crisis
Release Date 4/25
Wednesday 13 dubs the album as a fun, campy, “leave-your-brain-at-the-door” rager.
“Growing up in the 80s, I remember the satanic panic of Heavy Metal music and parents’ concern over what their kids were listening to. Most of the music that I listened to never had any of those themes, but they were just accused of it. (So) I wanted the lyrics to be upfront and leave no question as to what they were about… the Devil.”
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