Our friends over at MusicRadar have put together a track by track for RUSH‘s upcoming album ‘Clockwork Angels‘ and we decided to take the opening sentence to each track description to give you a flavour of what they thought about the album – check out excerpts from that article below:

CARAVAN
A train signal, a dark and descending bassline and some ominous orchestration… Suddenly, blam! – Rush explode into a tough, feisty rocker driven by Alex Lifeson’s gritty guitar riff.

BU2B
Whereas the single version of BU2B that was released last year kicked down the barn door without warning, now it begins with lightly strummed acoustics. The main riff is just as smashing, however, a growling, grinding earth-mover over which Lee sings, “I was brought up to believe the universe has a plan/ we are only human, it’s not ours to understand.”

CLOCKWORK ANGELS
Stephen Colbert once joked with Rush by asking, “Have you ever written a song so epic that by the end of the song you were actually being influenced by yourself in the beginning of the song?” Which could indeed be the case with this mini classic that works as a self-contained rock opera.

THE ANARCHIST
A sprightly, snaggle-toothed guitar riff leads to a boisterous rocker in which Lee, Lifeson and Peart tumble over one another with calisthenic agility.

CARNIES
Sweet and soul, rude and inviting – this phantasmagoric pounder is fascinating in how everything seems effortlessly, inexplicably right. It also features probably the meanest riff that Alex Lifeson has ever played – on record at least – one which dovetails seamlessly into a brutal mass of a verse.

HALO EFFECT
Can you possibly tell that a song is destined to become a classic the first time you hear it? Possibly – and if, for some reason, Halo Effect doesn’t make it into the pantheon of all-time Rush greats, it’ll come damn close.

SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD
Lifeson’s guitar breathes fire straight off – his first riff is Hendrixian in spirit – with Lee and Peart catching up for this devilish workout, underpinned by urgent keyboards and Lee’s dark-toned vocals.

THE WRECKERS
A big, brash British power chord opening, evoking so many things Who and Kinks, lights up this one-of-a-kind winner.

HEADLONG FLIGHT
Calling any one song a tour de force on an album this bountiful is difficult, but this seven-minute monster oozes with virtuosic zeal and stirring lyricism. Lee kicks it all off with a spacey bass figure, which morphs into a full-throttle, all-hands-on-deck assault that builds in intensity.

BU2B2
Not an actual song per se, but a haunting segue built on cellos and acoustic guitars, with Lee’s minimalist vocal evoking a moonlit gospel meeting.

WISH THEM WELL
A blissed-out romp that starts with a fake-out: Are those white-hot guitars or a cranked-up Hammond organ over Peart’s ramrod drums? Hard to tell, but it’s a magical combo.

THE GARDEN
A pastoral delight that comes over you like a daydream. Graceful and buoyant acoustics, tasteful orchestration, and Lee singing in a simple, unaffected style make up the bedrock of The Garden.

Click here to read the full track by track breakdown on MusicRadar.

Click here to pick up your copy of ‘Clockwork Angels’ on vinyl!

We have the second in the series of SLASH Spotify playlists to reveal today! The playlists are in celebration of the release of his upcoming album ‘Apocalyptic Love‘ and were put together by the man himself. Click here to check out playlist #2.

Pre-order SLASH’s upcoming album ‘Apocalyptic Love’ from iTunes by pointing your mouse in this direction.

You don’t need to know much about rock ‘n’ roll to know SLASH more or less defines the idea of the guitar hero. Across five albums with Guns N’ Roses, two each with Slash’s Snakepit and Velvet Revolver, as well as a previous solo album, he’s shown just what can be done with an amped-up Gibson. Now backed by Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, he’s back with a second solo disc. “A lot of this record was written on the road – musicians that say they can’t write on the road are usually busy doing something else,” SLASH has said of this album.”I think it’s been my way of keeping myself out of trouble, to take all the energy I used to put into partying and spend it on the guitar. But it’s very inspired. It’s not like I make myself do it. I get to my room and I’ve got ideas so I’ll work on them, rather than waiting until later.”

You can now hear the album in FULL over on The Guardian’s website by clicking here. Have a listen to the album before the official UK release on Monday and let us know what you think!

Pre-order SLASH’s upcoming album ‘Apocalyptic Love’ from iTunes by pointing your mouse in this direction.

DREAM THEATER’s Jordan Rudess will be doing two online chats via his Facebook page this evening. The first chat will be at 4pm EST / 9pm BST and the second will be at 9pm EST / 2am BST. In the chats Jordan will be discussing and answering questions about music, his apps and of course, DREAM THEATER. Click here to tune in on Facebook!

Buy the latest DREAM THEATER album here:
DIGITAL http://smarturl.it/Dream_Theater
PHYSICAL http://smarturl.it/Dream_Theater_CD

In the penultimate episode of SLASH‘s recent series of shows on BBC Radio 2, SLASH presents an hour of heavy riffs, crunching guitars, screaming solos and soaring vocals – including an incendiary BBC archive session performance from rock royalty, Led Zeppelin. The axeman also played tunes by Thin Lizzy, Megadeth, AC/DC and Scorpions. Enjoy the show while it lasts, there’s only one more to go after this!

Click here to listen to the show but hurry, it’s only up for 2 more days!

Pre-order SLASH’s upcoming album ‘Apocalyptic Love’ from iTunes by pointing your mouse in this direction.

SLASH releases his album ‘Apocalyptic Love‘ as part of the Classic Rock Fan Pack on Monday, as well as releasing the album digitally on iTunes. In anticiption of the release, the guitar wielding man in a hat has put together some Spotify playlists for us, which we will be premiering daily until Monday. You can find the first playlist on Spotify by clicking here.

Pre-order SLASH’s upcoming album ‘Apocalyptic Love’ from iTunes by pointing your mouse in this direction.

SLASH will premiere the new video for “You’re A Lie” today, Tuesday May 15. The hard-charging song–already #1 most-added at Active Rock Radio in its first week of single release–marks the first single off the iconic, Grammy-winning rock guitarist and songwriter’s forthcoming second studio album APOCALYPTIC LOVE and is also available to buy everywhere and on iTunes now: www.itunes.com/slash. Check out the video below:

APOCALYPTIC LOVE features SLASH and his bandmates Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators–Myles Kennedy (vocals), Brent Fitz (drums) and Todd Kerns (bass)– and will be released May 21 (UK) on SLASH’s own label DikHayd International and distributed through Roadrunner Records in Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

In the UK, the album will be released on May 21 in exclusive Classic Rock Fan Pack form – providing a unique collectable package containing the studio album with bonus tracks alongside a specially created magazine with unseen behind-the-scenes content put together by Classic Rock. The Fan Pack format will also come with free gifts including a pin badge & artwork poster and will be available to buy via more than 2000 retail outlets on newsstands nationally as well as the traditional high street and online music retailer. The Fan Pack is available for pre-order now at www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/slash-fan-pack. Roadrunner Records will simultaneously release the record digitally. The standard physical release of the Slash album will follow through Roadrunner Records on June 18 2012.

SLASH is also now conmfirmed for the UK’s Download festival, which takes place on the weekend of the 8th to 10th June 2012. For more information and tickets please go to www.downloadfestival.co.uk.

Ever wonder what DELAIN get up to when rehearsing for a tour? Well, the guys filmed a recent rehearsal day for their current tour, which you can check out below:

The band revealed an album teaser clip over on their Facebook page last week and all you have to do to access the content is ‘like’ the band’s official page. Click here to head over to Facebook and let us know what you think of the teaser!

Click here to pre-order your copy of ‘We Are The Others’ now.

Point your mouse in this direction to find a DELAIN UK tour date near you – but hurry, the band are in a town near you this week!

STORM CORROSION‘s Mikael Akerfeldt and Steven Wilson sat down together in front of the camera and answered some fan questions and we’ve been premiering them on our website on a weekly basis. Today we have a clip about why it took so long to record together and as we have seen in previous clips, the guys pull no punches when talking about each other. Check it out below:

Pick up a copy of STORM CORROSION‘s new self-titled album below:

CD: http://smarturl.it/stormcorrosionint
Digital: http://smarturl.it/stormcorrosion

Voting for the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards closes on the 21st May so make sure you’ve cast your vote for the chance to be part of the action. The Golden Gods Awards are once again being held at London’s IndigO2 on Monday 11th June and will see metal icons and fans come together for the biggest and baddest metal knees-up of the year!

Vote now for the bands you think most deserve these heavy and prestigious gongs and by voting be in with a chance to win tickets to the show. See Anthrax, Biohazard and Ghost LIVE! Hosted by Chris Jericho! Just to remind you of the Roadrunner Records nominees in this year’s competition, see below:

BEST EVENT
Mustaine Jams With Metallica

DIMEBAG DARRELL SHREDDER
Adam D

BEST INTERNATIONAL BAND
Lamb Of God
Opeth

SCUZZ VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Trivium – In Waves
Mastodon – Curl Of The Burl

And if you fancy entering our competition to win tickets to the awards plus other awesome goodies, click here to head over to our Facebook competition. Hurry though as our competition closes in TWO DAYS!