Rock Report 9-16-21

Faith No More and Mr. Bungle have canceled a number of 2021 U.S. tour dates. The cancelations are due to mental health reasons, with Mike Patton explaining he is suffering from “issues that were exacerbated by the pandemic.”

Faith No More and Mr. Bungle were both scheduled to play this year’s Riot Fest around Faith No More’s September and October tour dates. Mr. Bungle were also meant to play an intimate Chicago gig after Riot Fest, but that gig has also been canceled.

Mastodon and Opeth have just announced a massive 2021 U.S. tour with Zeal & Ardor supporting.

Mastodon will be touring in support of their upcoming album “Hushed and Grim”, which will hit shelves right in time for Halloween on Oct. 29. Zeal & Ardor have been steadily releasing singles for their self-titled third studio album, which is due out Feb. 11, 2022. Opeth’s most recent release was the lauded In Cauda Venenum back in 2019.

Halestorm drummer Arejay Hale spoke to Lou Brutus of Hard Drive Radio about the band’s musical approach on the upcoming follow-up to 2018’s “Vicious” album, tentatively due in early 2022 via Atlantic. “At this point, we’re just, well, we could either try to create as much open, breathable space so when we play these songs in arenas, they can sound really big, or we can try to do almost the opposite, but tastefully,” he said. “Like, let’s try to bring out more personality, let’s try to be even more ourselves in the sense of bringing more energy to the songs. ‘Cause like it or not, we play without a click track live, so the songs are gonna be a little bit faster, we’re gonna throw more notes in here and there, we’re gonna get excited and do something crazy.