Ex-JUDAS PRIEST Members K.K. DOWNING, TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS, LES BINKS To Guest On DEVILSTAR's Cover Of 'Beyond The Realms Of Death'

April 17, 2018

Producer/guitarist Paul Crook (pictured; ANTHRAX, SEBASTIAN BACH, MEAT LOAF) and executive producer John Madera have announced the formation of DEVILSTAR, an all-star hard rock and heavy metal group billed as the world's first interactive band. The first release under the DEVILSTAR moniker will be a cover of the JUDAS PRIEST classic "Beyond The Realms Of Death", which will be available on streaming and digital platforms on June 1.

DEVILSTAR's rendition of "Beyond The Realms Of Death" will feature performances by three PRIEST alumni — guitarist K.K. Downing, vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens and drummer Les Binks — in addition to Crook and bassist Joey Vera (ARMORED SAINT, FATES WARNING). The song, which marks Downing's first collaboration with Binks (who co-wrote the song with Rob Halford) since 1979, was chosen to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the group's iconic album "Stained Class".

Subsequent DEVILSTAR single releases — which will be a mix of covers and original material — will feature other notable hard rock/metal names, with Crook handling production and mixing in addition to playing guitar. While several tracks have already been recorded for release in the coming months, fans are invited to email [email protected] to propose potential "dream team" lineups and/or suggest cover songs to tackle in the future.

Crook first rose to prominence as lead guitarist of thrash pioneers ANTHRAX in the mid-1990s, when he performed on and toured in support of the group's albums "Stomp 442" and "Volume 8: The Threat Is Real", the latter of which he also co-produced. In 1999, Crook began a five-year stint as lead guitarist for former SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach. In 2004, he was personally chosen and trained by QUEEN guitarist Brian May to handle his guitar parts for their musical production of "We Will Rock You", which performed for a year on the Las Vegas strip at the Paris Casino Hotel. For the last 15 years, he has served as lead guitarist of Meat Loaf's NEVERLAND EXPRESS. In that time, he has performed on four Meat Loaf studio albums and three live albums/DVDs, including "Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose" and "Bat Out Of Hell: Live With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra". He also produced Meat Loaf's two most recent studio albums, "Hell In A Handbasket" and "Braver Than We Are".

Still, Crook — who over the years has also collaborated with artists ranging from Glenn Hughes to M.O.D. — remains a hard rock and heavy metal fan at heart, and DEVILSTAR will now serve as a supercharged vehicle through which he'll exorcise his heavier musical demons.

"John and I are proud to partner our DEVILSTAR brand with M-Theory Audio and Marco Barbieri," Crook says. "There is no one better suited to help us share our passion for heavy metal with the world than Marco."

"I've heard the magnificent cover of 'Beyond The Realms Of Death' and I'm excited by the possibilities teaming up with DEVILSTAR," says Barbieri. "Paul has tremendous talents and experience and John is quite the ambitious visionary, and together we're going to have a lot of fun bringing you some great collaborations and future recordings."

Find more on Judas priest
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).