Rock Encyclopedia

Having united forces with rock ‘n’ roll legends Metallica for encore performances and recordings throughout the years, GRAMMY(R) Award-nominated heavy metal vocalist and Mercyful Fate frontman King Diamond will take to the cyber-stage with Metallica this spring in Activision Publishing Inc.’s Guitar Hero(R) Metallica(R).

Fans, stagehands and groupies alike will have the opportunity to shred and drum with or wail as the digital King Diamond during performances of “Evil.” The song, which originally was recorded in 1983 and is one of the Mercyful Fate songs that comprise Metallica’s “Mercyful Fate” medley, was re-recorded by four of the five original band members for Guitar Hero Metallica. The recording session was overseen by guitarist Hank Shermann in the band’s native Denmark; after which King Diamond laid down his vocals in Dallas, Texas, and mixed the song with J.T. Longoria.

“It’s been absolutely amazing to be a part of this Guitar Hero experience. It was quite a trip to re-record the song ‘Evil’ almost 25 years after the original recording took place. The end result with four out of the five original musicians turned out so much better than I would ever have hoped for,” said King Diamond. “Seeing my animated character take form was totally eerie in a very good way. It’s so strange to see yourself animated in such perfect detail – cross bone microphone, Eye necklace and all. This game looks and sounds METAL all the way. HORNS UP!!!”

“Ride the Lightning” with musical icons Metallica and 21 other rockin’ acts in an all new Guitar Hero(R) experience – Guitar Hero Metallica. Enter the world of Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo and experience the intensity and skill of one of the greatest bands of all time. Shred on the guitar controller, rip on the drum kit controller and wail on the mic to a set list featuring over 45 explosive hits from Metallica’s illustrious career and a wide variety of other legendary artists personally selected by the band, such as Alice In Chains, Bob Seger, Foo Fighters, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Queen. Fans will be able to rock as Metallica while performing in venues reminiscent of the band’s epic album covers, themes from their music and real world locales.

Guitar Hero Metallica is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system. The Wii(TM) home video game system from Nintendo and the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system versions are being developed by Budcat. The game is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. For more information about Guitar Hero Metallica, please visit guitarhero.com.

Source: Activision, Inc.

Tracks Represent Metallica’s Most Influential Music and Hand-Picked Guest Acts Including Queen, Foo Fighters and Alice in Chains

Metallica’s influential music takes center stage this spring when Activision Publishing Inc.’s Guitar Hero(R) Metallica(R) takes music fans through the band’s fabled library of songs, plus the music and musicians who influence them. When the house lights go down this spring, virtual rock stars across the globe will shred, drum and wail to an explosive set list featuring over 45 tracks from Metallica’s illustrious career and a wide variety of other legendary artists personally selected by the band, such as Queen, Foo Fighters, Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Slayer and Judas Priest.

Featuring tracks from every Metallica studio album, the complete Guitar Hero Metallica on-disc set list will include their following hits:

– “All Nightmare Long”
– “Battery”
– “Creeping Death”
– “Disposable Heroes”
– “Dyers Eve”
– “Enter Sandman”
– “Fade To Black”
– “Fight Fire With Fire”
– “For Whom The Bell Tolls”
– “Frantic”
– “Fuel”
– “Hit The Lights”
– “King Nothing”
– “Master of Puppets”
– “Mercyful Fate”
– “No Leaf Clover”
– “Nothing Else Matters”
– “One”
– “Orion”
– “Sad But True”
– “Seek And Destroy”
– “The Memory Remains”
– “The Shortest Straw”
– “The Thing That Should Not Be”
– “The Unforgiven”
– “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”
– “Wherever I May Roam”
– “Whiplash”

Complementing Metallica’s intensity are the following 21 rockin’ tracks personally chosen by the band:

– Alice In Chains – “No Excuses”
– Bob Seger – “Turn The Page (Live)”
– Corrosion of Conformity – “Albatross”
– Diamond Head – “Am I Evil?”
– Foo Fighters – “Stacked Actors”
– Judas Priest – “Hell Bent For Leather”
– Kyuss – “Demon Cleaner”
– Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Tuesdays Gone”
– Machine Head – “Beautiful Mourning”
– Mastodon – “Blood And Thunder”
– Mercyful Fate – “Evil”
– Michael Schenker Group – “Armed and Ready”
– Motorhead – “Ace of Spades”
– Queen – “Stone Cold Crazy”
– Samhain – “Mother of Mercy”
– Slayer – “War Ensemble”
– Social Distortion – “Mommy’s Little Monster (Live)”
– Suicidal Tendencies – “War Inside My Head”
– System of a Down – “Toxicity”
– The Sword – “Black River”
– Thin Lizzy – “The Boys Are Back in Town”

Gamers who have downloaded the Death Magnetic album on Xbox 360(R) or PLAYSTATION(R)3 will have access to the album while the Wii(TM) and PlayStation(R)2 versions will have “Broken, Beat & Scarred,” “Cyanide” and “My Apocalypse” included on disc.

“Ride the Lightning” with musical icons Metallica and 21 other rockin’ acts in an all new Guitar Hero(R) experience – Guitar Hero Metallica. Enter the world of Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo and experience the intensity and skill of one of the greatest bands of all time. Shred on the guitar controller, rip on the drum kit controller and wail on the mic to a set list featuring over 45 explosive hits from Metallica’s illustrious career and a wide variety of other legendary artists personally selected by the band, such as Alice In Chains, Foo Fighters and Queen. Fans will be able to rock as Metallica while performing in venues reminiscent of the band’s epic album covers, themes from their music and real world locales.

Guitar Hero Metallica is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system. The Wii(TM) home video game system from Nintendo and the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system versions are being developed by Budcat. The game is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. For more information about Guitar Hero Metallica, please visit guitarhero.com.

Source: Activision Publishing, Inc.

Ticketmaster, the world’s leading live entertainment ticketing and marketing company, will be using their latest ticketing innovation, the Paperless Ticket, for the first time in Europe when Metallica launch their new album Death Magnetic live at The O2 in London on September 15.

Ticketmaster is constantly looking at the use of new technology in order to offer a more secure and safe ticketing experience for fans, clients and artists. Paperless ticketing allows quick and secure access to venues, while reducing the amount of paper used to print tickets, saving both time for fans and reducing the impact on the environment.

Over 15,000 people are expected to attend the event but tickets will not exchange hands with this latest innovative and secure technology, and fans will not have to wait at box- ffices to collect tickets. Customers using a Credit Card/Visa Debit Card to purchase their tickets will not be sent a ticket but will only be required to arrive at the venue with their credit card and photo identification. Their card will then be swiped, they will be given a receipt, and they will then be granted entry to the event. The entire process is quick, secure and simple.

The Death Magnetic release party will go on sale to Fan Club and Mission Metallica members only from September 1st. The event is promoted by Stuart Galbraith for Kilimanjaro Live /AEG.

Chris Edmonds, Managing Director, said “The drive behind this innovative ticketing technology is our continued desire to provide our clients with new ways to provide quick and secure ticketing systems for their events. Paperless ticketing means no box-office collection queues for these tickets with entry being given on the swipe of the credit card used for the booking and photo ID checked by venue staff. This benefits both the consumer and the venue by allowing secure, smooth and fast entry to events.”

Stuart Galbraith, Kilimanjaro CEO, said, “Metallica want to ensure that all the proceeds from this launch party to go directly to charity. They also want the audience to be all Fan Club and Mission Metallica members. By working closely with Ticketmaster and their Paperless Ticket technology we can deliver the band’s wishes and minimise the possibility of charitable tickets being resold in the secondary market. Airline customers are now very used to arriving at check-in with just a credit card as validation and I believe that the TM Paperless Ticket system heralds the launch of a new phase in concert ticketing that will quickly be adopted by gig goers in exactly the same way.”

Source: Ticketmaster UK Ltd