genre rock

Godsmack announced the departure of longtime guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin. The news was shared on Wednesday (April 2) in a lengthy statement revealing that both men had decided to retire from the band after nearly three decades of service.

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“We send this message to all of you to share some bittersweet news with you regarding a significant change in our journey together,” read the letter signed by founding singer Sully Erna and bassist Robbie Merrill and their two former bandmates. “After almost 3 incredible decades, two of our most cherished members, Tony Rombola and Shannon Larkin have decided to retire from the band permanently, on good terms, but for no other reason than to fulfill their desire to live a more simple and quiet life away from touring.”

Rombola joined the hard rock group a year after it was founded, replacing original guitarist Lee Richards in 1996 and Larkin signed on in 2002, replacing founding drummer Tommy Stewart.

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“This decision was not made lightly. Tony and Shannon have been such a big part of our history, bringing their unique talents, creativity, and passion that have shaped our music and our message,” the statement continued. “Together, we have experienced countless, unforgettable moments and heartfelt interactions with fans like you around the world. We are immensely grateful for every memory we’ve created together.”

According to Blabbermouth, in a since-deleted Facebook video, Larkin, 58, and Rombola, 60, confirmed they are doing okay, but that after many discussions with Erna and Merrill “we did quit the band last year… they understood that we didn’t want to tour anymore — that’s the reason — and we understood that they wanted to tour. And so we understood each other. And in the end, Godsmack’s out there touring and we are happily here living our lives.”

Erna said he and Merrill are excited to “explore new directions,” though they said they’ve not yet made any permanent decisions about the mens’ replacements. “We will be continuing this journey together, and we look forward to sharing the decisions we make with all of you as they happen,” the remaining duo said. In the meantime, Evanescence drummer Will Hunt and Dorothy guitarist Sam Doltun have been filling in on Godsmack’s ongoing 2025 world tour with P.O.D. and Drowning Pool, which will is slated to hit Berlin on Friday (April 4).

Check out Godsmack’s announcement below.

Bruce Springsteen is really throwing open the vaults for his upcoming Tracks II: The Lost Albums box set. But, unlike the his 1998 four-disc odds and sods Tracks collection, The Boss’ sprawling sequel will contain seven previously unheard full length records. According to a release on Thursday (April 3), the 83-track collection due out on June 27 through Sony Music will “fill in rich chapters of Springsteen’s expansive career timeline — while offering invaluable insight into his life and work as an artist.”

In a statement, Springsteen said, “The Lost Albums were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released. I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.”-

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The box will include the lo-fi LA Garage Sessions ’83, described as a “crucial link” between the bare-bones Nebraska and the full-throated Born in the U.S.A., as well as the drum loop and synthesizer experimentation for the Streets of Philadelphia Sessions. The project covering the years 1983-2018 is a peek into 35 years of home recording and songwriting that the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said provides insight into work that no one has heard before.

“The ability to record at home whenever I wanted allowed me to go into a wide variety of different musical directions,” Springsteen said. Some of that includes the “sonic experimentation” on “Faithless,” a film soundtrack he wrote for a movie that was never made, as well as the country-leaning, pedal steel-fueled sound of Somewhere North of Nashville, featuring songs such as “Repo Man,” “Tiger Rose,” “Silver Mountain,” “Janey Don’t Lose Your Heart” and the title track.

There’s also the “richly-woven border tales” on Inyo songs including “Indian Town,” “The Aztec Dance,” “Our Lady of Monroe” and “Ciudad Juarez” and the “orchestra-driven, mid-century noir on such Twilight Hours tracks as “Sunday Love,” “Lonely Town,” “September Kisses” and “High Sierra.” Another album, Perfect World, featuring the songs “I’m Not Sleeping,” “Idiot’s Delight,” “The Great Depression,” “If I Could Only Be Your Lover” and “You Lifted Me Up.”

Springsteen previewed the album on Thursday with the muscular, devastating Perfect World song “Rain in the River,” on which he sings, “Down at the water, I head my Marie/ She said, ‘Now Johnny, your love mean no more to me’/ Than rain in the river/ Than rain in the river.” He also posted a 90-second trailer for the album on Thursday morning, in which he says, “I often read about myself in the ’90s as having some lost period or something. And I really, really I was working the whole time.”

The rock icon explains that during the COVID-19 pandemic he “finished” everything he had in his vault, totaling 83 songs — 82 of which have never been heard before — including 74 that have never been heard before in any version.

The Lost Albums will come in limited-edition 9-LP, 7-CD and digital formats, with distinctive packaging for each previously unreleased record, as well as a 100-page cloth-bound hardcover book with rare archival photos, liner notes on each album from essayist Erik Flannigan and a personal introduction from Springsteen. A 20-track compilation entitled Lost and Found: Selections From The Lost Albums will be released on June 27 on two LPs and one CD.

Check out “Rain in the River” and the full track list for Tracks II: The Lost Albums below: 

LA Garage Sessions ’83

1. Follow That Dream

2. Don’t Back Down On Our Love

3. Little Girl Like You

4. Johnny Bye Bye

5. Sugarland

6. Seven Tears

7. Fugitive’s Dream

8. Black Mountain Ballad

9. Jim Deer

10. County Fair

11. My Hometown

12. One Love

13. Don’t Back Down

14. Richfield Whistle

15. The Klansman

16. Unsatisfied Heart

17. Shut Out The Light

18. Fugitive’s Dream (Ballad)

Streets of Philadelphia Sessions

1. Blind Spot

2. Maybe I Don’t Know You

3. Something In The Well

4. Waiting On The End Of The World

5. The Little Things

6. We Fell Down

7. One Beautiful Morning

8. Between Heaven and Earth

9. Secret Garden

10. The Farewell Party

Faithless

1. The Desert (Instrumental)

2. Where You Goin’, Where You From

3. Faithless

4. All God’s Children

5. A Prayer By The River (Instrumental)

6. God Sent You

7. Goin’ To California

8. The Western Sea (Instrumental)

9. My Master’s Hand

10. Let Me Ride

11. My Master’s Hand (Theme)

Somewhere North of Nashville

1. Repo Man

2. Tiger Rose

3. Poor Side of Town

4. Delivery Man

5. Under A Big Sky

6. Detail Man

7. Silver Mountain

8. Janey Don’t You Lose Heart

9. You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone

10. Stand On It

11. Blue Highway

12. Somewhere North of Nashville

Inyo

1. Inyo

2. Indian Town

3. Adelita

4. The Aztec Dance

5. The Lost Charro

6. Our Lady of Monroe

7. El Jardinero (Upon the Death of Ramona)

8. One False Move

9. Ciudad Juarez

10. When I Build My Beautiful House

Twilight Hours

1. Sunday Love

2. Late in the Evening

3. Two of Us

4. Lonely Town

5. September Kisses

6. Twilight Hours

7. I’ll Stand By You

8. High Sierra

9. Sunliner

10. Another You

11. Dinner at Eight

12. Follow The Sun

Perfect World

1. I’m Not Sleeping

2. Idiot’s Delight

3. Another Thin Line

4. The Great Depression

5. Blind Man

6. Rain In The River

7. If I Could Only Be Your Lover

8. Cutting Knife

9. You Lifted Me Up

10. Perfect World

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Bruce Springsteen is seemingly gearing up to release another massive collection from his vaults. After teasing on Instagram on Tuesday (April 1) that “what was lost has now been found,” The Boss posted the official teaser for what appears to be another career-spanning project on Wednesday (April 2) via another Insta post with the caption #TheLostAlbums.

The accompanying video featuring black and white footage of Springsteen, 75, playing an acoustic guitar was accompanied by an untitled instrumental track and the words Tracks II, leading to a website (lostalbums.net) with a studio card from the singer’s L.A. (and Colts Neck, N.J.-based) Thrill Hill Recording studio featuring the dates 1983-2018.

While no additional information was available on the project at press time — including a release date or track listing — the project appears to be a sequel to Springsteen’s 1998 four-disc, 66-song box set Tracks, which covered the years 1972-1995. That sprawling collection featured never-before-released songs, b-sides, demos and alternate versions of released tracks from throughout his career, including an acoustic version of “Born in the U.S.A.”

The original Tracks spanned from early demos recorded in 1972, before the release of his 1973 debut, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. through such landmark releases as Born to Run, The River, Born in the U.S.A., Tunnel of Love and 1992’s Human Touch.

Based on the dates from the Lost Albums site, the new set seemingly picks up right before the 1984 release of Born in the U.S.A. and runs all the way until just before 2019’s Southern California pop LP Western Stars. That period covers a dozen releases, including 1992’s Lucky Town, 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad, 2002’s The Rising, 2009’s Working on a Dream and 2012’s Wrecking Ball, among others.

It was unclear at press time when the set will drop, though the promo video features Thursday’s (April 3) date at the top. Back in December, Springsteen’s team teased that, “upcoming releases in 2025 include a look back at Springsteen’s storied recording career, featuring never-before-heard material.”

Springsteen has talked about recording much more material than fans have heard, telling Variety in 2017 that he and the E Street Band have “made many more records than we released. Why didn’t we release those records? I didn’t think they were essential,” he said of projects including the mythical electric version of his landmark bare-bones 1982 Nebraska album, which will be the focus of the upcoming Jeremy Allen White-starring biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere.

“I might have thought they were good, I might have had fun making them, and we’ve released plenty of that music [on archival collections over the years],” Springsteen added in the Variety interview. “But over my entire work life, I felt like I released what was essential at a certain moment, and what I got in return was a very sharp definition of who I was, what I want to do, what I was singing about. And I still basically judge what I’m doing by the same set of rules.”

Springsteen and the E Street Band will kick off their European tour on May 14 with the first of three shows at Co-Op Live in Manchester, U.K.

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Ecca Vandal just had her “pinch me” moment on tour with Limp Bizkit. While opening for the nu-metal icons on their Loserville European tour, the Melbourne-raised punk-pop force was joined on stage by none other than Fred Durst himself.

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The moment went down in Frankfurt on March 31, as Vandal performed her latest single, “Cruising to Self Soothe.” Mid-set, Durst made a surprise entrance to sing alongside her, to the roar of the crowd.

“Make some noise for Fred Durst,” she shouted, adding, “What a f—ing honor!” Later, she posted a clip of the performance on Instagram with the caption: “Cruising with Fred Durst.” The Limp Bizkit frontman responded with a smiling emoji and fire emojis.

Durst has long been a fan of the genre-defying South African-born artist, previously calling her new single “legendary.” “Cruising to Self Soothe,” released in late February, is Vandal’s first new music of 2025 and follows her support slot for IDLES earlier this year. The gritty, empowering track explores personal strength and liberation in the face of isolation.

“This song is about cultivating your inner strength when navigating life on your own, even when it feels a bit isolating,” she explained. “It’s about that pivotal moment when you recognise that you’re stronger without the people who were weighing you down.”

Vandal continued: “Even when others are waiting for you to fall, you’re still rising — stronger than ever.”

The Loserville tour, featuring support acts Karen Díó, Bones, N8NOFACE, and Riff Raff, wraps up tonight at the Accor Arena in Paris. Vandal has been a standout opener throughout the run, bringing her explosive stage presence to a whole new audience.

After four years without solo releases, Vandal returned in 2024 and 2025 with new music and continued collaborations with acts like Birdz, Illy, DZ Deathrays and Void of Vision. Her self-titled debut album dropped in 2017.