Last week U2 gave away their new album, Songs Of Innocence, for free to half a billion iTunes customers around the world; whether they wanted it or not. The 11 tracks just appeared in people’s libraries. This was all part of the marketing campaign for Apple’s new iPhone 6 and iWatch; for which the Irish band was reportedly paid $100 million.

Orange Goblin vocalist Ben Ward, speaking exclusively to BraveWords scribe Aaron Small, weighs in on the situation. “I don’t like it, I really don’t like it. I think it’s an invasion of people’s privacy. You just wake up one morning, open your iTunes, and it’s there. I know a lot of people can’t believe it. There’s some people whose devices are bordering on the brink of capacity memory. It’s a real violation of your freedom. I think U2 in general are a violation of people’s rights… that’s just my personal taste. I don’t agree with it. I think if you’re going to do something like that, you still need to give people the choice. Here’s U2’s new album, you can choose to download it or not; if you want to, you can. Don’t just stick it in there and force it upon people. From what I’ve read, the backlash against it has gone against them. A lot of people refuse to listen to it and don’t want anything more to do with the band. It just stinks of typical Bono kind of pretentiousness; I don’t like it.”

Candlelight Records has confirmed October 7th as the North American release date for Orange Goblin's new album, Back From The Abyss. Recorded earlier this year in London, England, the album reunites the band with producer Jamie Dodd. It was mastered at Turan Audio in late July.

Back From The Abyss follows the band's most successful release, 2012's A Eulogy For The Damned, and the recent reissue of their 2007 album Healing Through Fire. Featuring twelve new songs, it delivers the quartet's now internationally respected brand of heavy metal. Rocking hard as fans have come expect, Back From The Abyss shows not only the band's tried-and-true blues and doom but the high caliber of their musicianship.

Back From The Abyss tracklisting:

"Sabbath Hex"
"Ubermensch"
"The Devil's Whip"
"Demon Blues"
"Heavy Lies The Crown"
"Into the Arms Of Morpheus"
"Mythical Knives"
"Bloodzilla"
"The Abyss"
"Titan"
"Blood Of Them"
"The Shadow Over Innsmouth"

The new promo clip for "Sabbath Hex" can be seen below. Bikers, witches, freaks, serial killers, psychedelia, sex, filth and rock 'n roll all wrapped up in one awesome video. What more do you need?