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The Ramones reached an all-time low by the end of the Eighties after the hardcore bands and the nascent grunge scene gave the genre an acid peel. The Ramones’ late Eighties albums were so unremarkable that Dee Dee Ramone quit the band to become rapper Dee Dee King in 1989, the same year they released Brain Drain, an album whose only saving grace was a cheeky song about a Stephen King novel that sounded more like the Replacements than the Ramones. In an album guide, Rolling Stone described Brain Drain as “eminently forgettable.

A couple of Ramones tribute albums are in the works featuring contributions from Thurston Moore, Napalm Death, Dave Lombardo, Gwar’s Blöthar the Berserker, Voivod, and more.

Magnetic Eye Records has announced the next installments of its “Redux” series, in which various artists cover entire classic albums. To honor the legendary Ramones, the label is putting together two collections, one a tribute to Ramones’ 1976 self-titled debut album and another a best of the rest of the iconic punk act’s discography.

The tracks have already been recorded and include a number of unique collaborations: Napalm Death with Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth); David J (Bauhaus) with Paul Wallfisch; Arthur Brown with Blöthar the Berserker (Gwar); Dave & Paula Lombardo’s band Venamoris with Eicca Toppinen (Apocalytpica); Kayo Dot & Ihsahn (Emperor); Voivod with Jg Thirlwell, and more.

The tribute albums — Ramones Redux and The Best of Ramones Redux — are being curated by Grammy-winning producer Marc Urselli,...

Apocalyptica have announced a 2025 North American tour in support of their new album, Apocalyptica Plays Metallica Vol. 2. Guitar shredder Nita Strauss will provide support for all dates.

The “Apocalyptica Plays Metallica Vol. 2 Tour” launches February 6th in Washington, D.C., and runs through March 8th in Houston. The Finnish metal cellists will hit majors markets such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Dallas along the way.

A Live Nation ticket pre-sale begins Wednesday (June 12th) at 10 a.m. local time using the code Chord. General ticket sales start Friday (June 14th) at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster. Fans can also look for deals or get tickets to sold-out dates via StubHub, where your purchase is 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s Fan Protect program.

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Apocalyptica released their new covers album Apocalyptica Plays Metallica Vol. 2 this past Friday (June 7th). It arrived nearly two decades after the...

Apocalyptica have unveiled a new cover of the Metallica‘s “The Call of Ktulu,” and the recording features the original bassline by the late Cliff Burton.

The Finnish metal cellists got the blessing of both the Metallica camp and Burton’s estate for the use of the bass part, which provides the backbone for this gorgeous rendition of the Ride the Lightning epic.

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Burton’s playing is even more discernible here than on the original, as it’s mixed pretty hot against the strings and not buried beneath guitars and drums. Later in the track, Apocalyptica do bring in more typical metal instrumentation, but you can really hear all the nuances of Cliff’s playing when the strings are soloed in the mix.

“I’ve learned in life that if you have crazy ideas it’s always worth asking, so I called Lars!” said Apocalyptica founder...

For those approaching Aquarela expecting an educational account on the perils of global warming, prepare to leave bamboozled, fact-famished and with a well furrowed brow, for renowned documentarian Viktor Kossakovsky delivers a reflective, part salient and near silent look at water as both a transformative compound and destructive force of nature. Aquarela opens with a jarring guitar score, disfiguring the beauty of the frozen Lake Baikal. Scenes and sequences featuring the aforementioned rift lake in Southern Siberia, and later Venezuela’s Angel Falls, play like a frozen lava-lamp blobbing back to life after an age left thawing in front of a cigarette.

Orange jacket wearing rescuers trudge grumpily across the lake’s frozen surface to retrieve a car from the beneath it. Later there are steam warped images of chilling vistas, ice white massifs winking silver under the sun while white rock hunks sit lonely when seen surrounded by clouds.

“Apollo 11” was the big winner at the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards on Sunday in New York City.

The film took home the award for documentary feature, as well as editing for Todd Douglas Miller and score for Matt Morton. “Apollo 11” was also honored with archival documentary and science/nature documentary prizes.

There was a tie for director between Peter Jackson for “They Shall Not Grow Old,” and Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar for “American Factory.” “They Shall Not Grow Old” also brought home the award for innovative documentary. “American Factory” nabbed the prize for political documentary.

The inaugural D. A. Pennebaker Award, formerly known as the Critics’ Choice lifetime achievement award, was presented to Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s longtime collaborator and widow. Michael Apted received the landmark award in honor of his “Up” series.

The ceremony, hosted by “Property Brothers” star Jonathan Scott, was held at Bric in Brooklyn.

Last month, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards announced their nominations, beginning to suggest which documentaries could be the Academy Award favorites this year. Tomorrow, the awards show takes place. In case you weren’t aware, The Biggest Little Farm led the field, grabbing seven nominations, while Apollo 11, One Child Nation, and They Shall Not Grow Old scored five apiece. Other potential Oscar contenders sprinkled throughout this precursors include American Factory, The Cave, Knock Down The House, Western Stars, and more. Below you can see all the nominated works, though what really will be interesting to see is what takes home the top prize. A win here for either American Factory, Apollo 11, The Biggest Little Farm, The Cave, Honeyland, The Kingmaker, Knock Down the House, Leaving Neverland, Maiden, One Child Nation, or They Shall Not Grow Old could really be a feather in its awards season cap. Time will tell,...

Documentary group Cinema Eye on Thursday unveiled nominations for the 2020 Cinema Eye Honors, with Netflix’s American Factory and Neon’s Apollo 11 leading the way with five nominations each. Netflix tops all distributors with 17 noms, the most ever in a single year.

Winners will be revealed at a ceremony January 6 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.

American Factory, which counts Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground among its executive producers, and Todd Douglas Miller’s deep dive into the 1969 moon mission Apollo 11 were nominated in the marquee Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category. They are joined there by For Sama, the PBS/Frontline Syrian drama from Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watt; Neon’s Honeyland, the Sundance-winning Macedonian beekeeper tale from Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevsk; 1901 Media’s Mexico City ambulance industry pic Midnight Family; and Amazon Studios’ Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize-winning One Child Nation.

Last year,...

“American Factory” and “Apollo 11” led all films in nominations for the 13th annual Cinema Eye Honors, a New York-based awards show created to pay tribute to all facets of nonfiction filmmaking.

The two films each received five nominations, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, from the Cinema Eye jury of festival programmers, as well as votes from this year’s eligible filmmakers.

The full slate of nominees in that category is a solid lineup of the year’s most acclaimed docs. In addition to Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s “American Factory” and Todd Douglas Miller’s “Apollo 11,” it includes Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ “For Sama,” Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska’s “Honeyland,” Luke Lorentzen’s “Midnight Family” and Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s “One Child Nation.”

Also Read: 12 Documentaries to Check Out This Fall, Including Films by Bruce Springsteen and Agnès Varda (Photos)

“American Factory,” “Apollo 11...

John Chester‘s “The Biggest Little Farm” leads the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards with seven nominations, including Best Documentary Feature and Best Director. Right behind it with six bids apiece are Todd Douglas Miller‘s “Apollo 11” and Peter Jackson‘s “They Shall Not Grow Old.” The other eight films nominated for the top prize are “American Factory,” “The Cave,” “Honeyland,” “The Kingmaker,” “Knock Down the House,” “Leaving Neverland,” “Maiden,” and “One Child Nation.”

Chester’s newest documentary follows his family’s journey as they develop a sustainable farm outside of Los Angeles. As the Ccda nomination leader it follows in the footsteps of last year’s eventual Academy Awards winner “Free Solo” who led this group’s field with six nominations. “Free Solo” may have won at the Oscars and three Ccda awards, but it lost the main prize here to “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?...

“The Biggest Little Farm” leads nominees for the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, with seven bids, followed by “Apollo 11” and “They Shall Not Grow Old.” “One Child Nation” received five nominations.

The winners will be presented their awards at a gala, hosted by Property Brothers’ Jonathan Scott, on Nov. 10 at Bric in Brooklyn.

The awards honor documentaries released in theaters, on TV and on major digital platforms, as determined by the voting of qualified Cca members.

A new honor, the D.A. Pennebaker Award, will be presented to Frederick Wiseman. Michael Apted will receive the landmark award for his work on the “Up” series of films, with “63 Up” opening this year.

“As the film and television industry constantly evolves, documentaries remain a vibrant creative art form that entertains as well as informs,” said Cca CEO Joey Berlin. “We are proud that our awards event has become a...

Farm animals, the historic moon landing and World War I veterans back to vivid life top the nominations for the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.

The Biggest Little Farm leads this year with seven nominations, including Best Documentary Feature, John Chester for Best Director and noms for Best Cinematography, Editing, Score, Narration and Science/Nature Documentary.

Recognized with six nominations each are Apollo 11 and They Shall Not Grow Old. The nominations for Apollo 11 are Best Documentary Feature, Todd Douglas Miller for Best Director, plus Editing, Score, Archival Documentary and Science/Nature Documentary, The nominations for They Shall Not Grow Old are Best Documentary Feature, Peter Jackson for Best Director, Editing, Score, Archival Documentary and Most Innovative Documentary.

One Child Nation received five nominations: Best Documentary Feature, Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang for Best Director, along with Editing, Narration, and Political Documentary.

The Cave, Honeyland, American Factor, Aquarela...

“Aquarela” begins with a car zipping straight across Siberia’s Lake Baikal, which usually remains frozen January through May. And then the car disappears, plunging through the thin ice. Russian filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky captures the moment at the world’s oldest, largest, and deepest freshwater lake in an astonishing feat of fast-frame-rate cinema that showcases the power of water all over the globe. It also placed its director and crew into terrible danger.

“It was obviously dangerous while shooting to suddenly see something like this,” said Kossakovsky. “Suddenly, the car appears in the shot and we see it just fall through the ice to the bottom of the lake. We realize it can happen to us. This was a moment. We were far away. We obviously wanted to help them. We start moving toward them. When we came close, we realized there was no ice around. It was like the ice was moving like waves,...

“Aquarela” begins with a car zipping straight across Siberia’s Lake Baikal, which usually remains frozen January through May. And then the car disappears, plunging through the thin ice. Russian filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky captures the moment at the world’s oldest, largest, and deepest freshwater lake in an astonishing feat of fast-frame-rate cinema that showcases the power of water all over the globe. It also placed its director and crew into terrible danger.

“It was obviously dangerous while shooting to suddenly see something like this,” said Kossakovsky. “Suddenly, the car appears in the shot and we see it just fall through the ice to the bottom of the lake. We realize it can happen to us. This was a moment. We were far away. We obviously wanted to help them. We start moving toward them. When we came close, we realized there was no ice around. It was like the ice was moving like waves,...

Shot in high definition at 96 frames per second — though most theaters will only be able to show it at 48 fps — this eyepopper from Russian director-writer-cinematographer-editor Victor Kossakovsky (¡Vivan Las Antípodas!) is like nothing you’ve ever seen. His free-form documentary on water opens by scaring us to death. The scene is on frozen Lake Baikal in Siberia, in which cars are shown cracking through the ice, while a rescue team labors to save a driver and passenger. It’s a showstopping sequence that reminds you how, when it comes to raging H2O,...

Finland's mighty cello-metal warriors Apocalyptica have just put the word on the street: their seventh studio album – the latest since 2007's international smash Worlds Collide – will be coming out this summer. Details are still a bit sketchy at this point, but what's been revealed so far sounds very promising... so hit the jump and find out more! Worlds Collide helped boost the Helsinki-based quartet – comprised of cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen and Perttu Kivilaakso, with rhythms supplied by Mikko Sirén – to newfound worldwide fame, produced the hit single I Don't Care (featuring Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace on vocals) and led to the band's most...