Geezer Butler's New Band Deadland Ritual Releases Bluesy New Song
By Andrew Magnotta
December 12, 2018
It took less than two years since Black Sabbath retired for the band's legendary bassist Geezer Butler to put together a new band and release a single.
After laying Sabbath to rest in early 2017, Butler was quick to announce his intension to get right back into music. At one point the bassist said, he had over 100 song ideas for his next project.
There wasn't much in the way of rumors for a new Butler-led collective until a week ago when the bassist and his new band mates began teasing their new band Deadland Ritual and a debut single called "Down in Flames."
The band includes longtime Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens and front man Franky Perez (formerly of Scars on Broadway). Butler is accompanied in the rhythm section by a fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer ex-Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum.
"I had to get used to the idea of starting from scratch again, which is good," Butler told Rolling Stone. "But I really liked the music I was hearing. It's not your typical hard rock or metal stuff."
The band's lead single, "Down in Flames," is a shuffling, bluesy heavy rock banger with a sway that's reminiscent Corrosion of Conformity or Clutch. It's not at all what Sabbath fans would expect from Butler — or Stevens and Sorum, for that matter.
You can check out the official music video for the song above.
Stevens was understandably enthusiastic about getting Butler involved in the band. Beyond Butler's status as one of the architects of hard rock and heavy metal, Stevens said musical chemistry between the two was almost instantaneous.
"There's a lot of times in the studio as a guitar player, you get a guitar sound and you're trying to make it work, tweaking it," Stevens explained. "There was none of that bulls--t. It just fit against his bass sound and it was really exciting to me. I get to hear my guitar against a bass guitarist that I've idolized forever."
At the moment, Deadland Ritual has two shows announced. The band will make its live debut at Download Festival in Donnington, England, the weekend of June 14 - 16 before rocking Hellfest in France on June 22.
Sorum tells Rolling Stone that the band plans to perform a setlist of original material and deep tracks from the band members' "collective past."
There's no album yet, but the band is planning more recording sessions ahead of their lives shows in the summer.
Photo: Getty Images