Avenged Sevenfold releases new album artwork, track list

Avenged Sevenfold has released the track list and new artwork (above) for the group’s upcoming album Nightmare, scheduled to drop next month, July 27.

The album was produced by Mike Elizondo, who has also produced work for Danger Radio and Eminem according to AltPress.

The album’s title track was recently released as a single and has made its way to the top of the iTunes rock chart.

Here is the complete track list:

1. Nightmare
2. Welcome To The Family
3. Danger Line
4. Buried Alive
5. Natural Born Killer
6. So Far Away
7. God Hates Us
8. Victim
9. Tonight The World Dies
10. Fiction
11. Save Me

Are you looking forward to the new album? Do you plan on buying it?

Hear new music first – HP

Former American Idol producer discusses why season nine was less than impressive

Even former American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe wasn’t impressed with the show’s season nine, and recently said so to The Canadian Press hinting that the people behind the show have lost both the focus, and “mojo” of the show after making the show less about the music and more about the judges.

He said: “The team took their eye off the ball a little bit and was more worried about the judges and what was happening with them than it was regarding the talent last year,” he said. “It became about Kara (DioGuardi) joining and making the fourth judge; Paula (Abdul) leaving; Ellen (DeGeneres) joining and Simon leaving — and much more about them and concentrating on that than on the talent that they were finding.”

Lythgoe who was one of the executive producers of “Idol” for the first seven seasons said he was less than impressed with number nine, which ended with former paint salesman Lee DeWyze being crowned the winner while early fan favorite Crystal Bowersox took second. Lythgoe said overall, “it wasn’t a vintage year.”

He also has reservations about the producers replacing Simon Cowell on the panel saying: “It’s never been my opinion that four judges work on that program because it should be about the talent.”

Why do you think season nine had the lowest ratings yet? Do you think the show is on its last legs?

Hear new music first – HP

Travie McCoy reportedly replaces Nicki Minaj on Last Girl on Earth tour

Well, it’s perhaps not what one would expect for what is called the “Last Girl On Earth” tour, but SOHH.com is reporting that Travie McCoy has been tapped to replace Nicki Minaj on Rihanna’s upcoming summer tour.

The Gym Class Heroes frontman will be the only male with two of pop’s hottest stars – Rihanna and Ke$ha on the full tour. McCoy just released his debut solo album Lazarus last week.

Nicki Minaj pulled out of the tour so that she could focus on recording her debut album, noting that it wasn’t an easy decision to make.

The “Last Girl On Earth” tour starts July 2, in Washington and goes coast to coast before wrapping up in Chicago at the end of August.

Rihanna tour dates:
7/2, Seattle, WA (White River Amphitheatre)
7/4, Vancouver, BC (General Motors Place)
7/6, Calgary, AB (Pengrowth Saddeldome)
7/9, Sacramento, CA (ARCO Arena)
7/10, Mountain View, CA (Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View)
7/14, Albuquerque, NM (Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque presents The Pavilion)
7/15, Denver, CO (Comfort Dental Amphitheatre)
7/17, Las Vegas, NV (Mandalay Bay Events Center)
7/21, Los Angeles, CA (Staples Center)
7/22, Phoenix, AZ (Cricket Wireless Pavilion)
7/28, Atlanta, GA (Philips Arena)
7/30, Tampa, FL (Ford Amphitheatre)
7/31, Miami, FL (American Airlines Center)
8/3, Indianapolis, IN (Verizon Wireless Music Center Indianapolis)
8/5, Toronto, ON (Molson Canadian Amphitheatre)
8/7, Montreal, QUE (Bell Centre)
8/8, Boston, MA (Comcast Center)
8/11, Uncasville, CT (Mohegan Sun Arena)
8/12, New York, NY (Madison Square Garden)
8/15, Wantagh, NY (Nikon at Jones Beach Theater)
8/18, Camden, NJ (Susquehanna Bank Center)
8/20, Bristow, VA (Jiffy Lube Live)
8/21, Hershey, PA (Hersheypark Stadium)
8/22, Detroit, MI (DTE Energy Music Theatre)
8/25, Chicago, IL (United Center)

Do you think McCoy is a strange replacement for Minaj on what was the female-fronted tour? Regardless of the tour’s name, its sure to be a good show don’t you think?

Hear new music first – HP

Hidden song contest is on! Enter to win, win win!

We were almost overwhelmed with a ton of great nominations at HitPredictor for the mid-week hidden song contest, so make sure you are on high alert when rating music this week so you can make the most of this opportunity to earn up to 60 bonus points for finding and correctly reporting the three hidden songs within the contest window, in addition to the chance to earn up to 250 points more with the drawings on Thursday afternoon!

To play along make sure you listen for three of the songs from the nomination list below while rating music over the next few days! The contest will remain open until 3 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 17. For each song you find and correctly report to us by the 3 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 17 deadline (via Twitter or e-mail for those who don’t Tweet) we will give you 20 points. Then, on Thursday we will give away a total of 750 points – split into three 250-point awards to one random winner (entrant) for each song!

To play along, all you need to do is compare the list of nominees below to the songs you hear in the jukebox, and when you come across any of the hidden songs, send a Tweet to @hitpredictor telling me the artist and the name of the song. That will get you 20 points (per correctly identified song) and an entry into one (or all) of the drawings for the bonus 250 points! For those who don’t use Twitter, you can send your entry to me via e-mail at maijaliisa [at] hitpredictor.com. Please remember to include your username!

Here are the member-submitted nominations for this week’s contest – can you find the three hidden songs?

• Karmina “Walk You Home”
• Musiq “Silky Soul”
• Carney “Love Me, Chase Me”
• Wale feat. Marsha Ambrosius “Diary”
• Papercut Massacre “Left 4 Dead”
• Lil Jon feat. LMFAO “Outta Your Mind”
• DJ Z-Trip feat. Chester Bennington “Walking Dead”
• Jessie James “Boys In The Summer”
• Lifehouse “It Is What It Is”
• Daughtry “September”
• Shakira “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)”
• Jewel “Satisfied”
• Jason Castro “That’s What I’m Here For”
• Sarah Darling “Whenever It Rains”
• Justin Bieber (feat. Jaden Smith) “Never Say Never”
• Something Corporate “I Woke Up In A Car (Adam Young Remix)”
• The Pretty Reckless “Make Me Wanna Die”
• LeAnn Rimes “Swingin’”
• Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers “I Should Have Known It”
• Charice “Pyramid”
• Ayla Brown, “Pick It Up”

Thanks to the HitPredictor members who took the time to send in nominations this week! Remember, if your nomination wasn’t picked this week, submit it again! You guys are a great source of new music for us and we love to know what YOU are listening to before it hits the airwaves!

It is your nominations that make this contest possible so keep it up by submitting nominations each and every week on our Facebook Fan Page or e-mailing them to me at maijaliisa [at] hitpredictor.com. The members whose nominations made it into the jukebox in this week’s contest will be rewarded with 25 bonus points on Thursday.

Please note that points for the contest will not be awarded to your account until after 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 17 for any entries.

Let me know if you have any questions – otherwise get busy rating music for the chance to earn bonus points and win even more!

Hear new music first – HP