After the jump is some incredibly depressing news. DO NOT READ IT UNLESS YOU ARE IN A VERY GOOD PLACE IN YOUR LIFE AND CAN HANDLE THE ABSOLUTE CRAPPINESS OF THIS NEWS. Seriously. I told Vince and he started weeping. You’ve been warned.
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Okay… here it is…
When we interviewed Howard Jones about the new Killswitch Engage album earlier this year, we couldn’t help but ask about the rumored new offering from Blood Has Been Shed, too. Here’s what Howard told us:
There was some news a little while ago that there might be another Blood Has Been Shed album. Are you involved in that still in any capacity?
Howard Jones: Well… yeah [laughs].
They made it sound like you might not be coming back…
HJ: We’re just trying to figure out what exactly it is that we’re going to do. Blood Has Been Shed is just one of those things where none of us do it full time, barely part time. We’ll get something out.
Of course, for any BHBS fan, this was fantastic news. A new album was really in the works! Howard was still on-board! What could possibly go wrong?
Well, for starters, it could turn out that Howard isn’t really involved.
There I was, minding my business on the Internet when all of a sudden, the Deathwish Inc. Twitter account tweets about a new Blacklisted album. And not just new, but NOW AVAILABLE.
I’ve really been digging some hardcore this year, thanks largely to 2009 releases from acts like Coalesce, Lewd Acts (review here), Rise And Fall, and White Shit (review here). I spend a good bit of free time surfing the web to check out bands to hype here on the blog, and with Sleeping Giant, I’ve stumbled on to another great one. Now, before any corpse-painted atheists get all testy with me: yes, they are a Christian band. Yet to be closed-minded about Sleeping Giant simply because of their proselytizing lyrical content would be to miss out on a promising talent on par with early Hatebreed.
The video above (which does a fine job with a limited budget) is for “The Army Of The Chosen One,” which comes off the band’s sophomore Facedown Records album Sons Of Thunder. Sleeping Giant are currently on the California Love tour with deathcore kings Winds Of Plague and Oceano. Remaining dates are below.
Click to read more…
Even though we try to lay him down by the fire and give him all the good lovin’ he needs, Satan Rosenbloom is a metalholic, and consequently sometimes cheats on us with Decibel or his own blog, Ceberal Metalhead. And we’ve come to live with that. As long he gets tested every now and again, we’re good to go.
ANYWAY, his latest post at the aforementioned Cerebral Metalhead is about the dangers of headbanging – more specifically, the ill effects it can take on one’s neck. Mr. Rosenbloom is currently suffering through his own neck issues (which were, alas, not brought about by headbanging or any other kind of awesomeness), which led him to think about Evansuckence’s Terry Ballsucko, who, I was surprised to learn, was partially paralyzed after a headbanging-induced stroke. (Think about that for a second: HEADBANGING TOO MUCH CAN LEAD TO A FUCKING STROKE. And here we always thought that moshing and stage diving and getting stuck watching In This Moment while waiting for the next band at Hot Topic Fest were the most dangerous aspects of the metal lifestyle.) This, in turn, led him to seek out a British Medical Journal piece about the potentially terrible side effects of headbanging, as well as some tips on making headbanging a safer activity.
Go here to read Satan’s entire piece. It’s actually really, really interesting stuff.
Also, if you have your own headbanging-induced neck injuries, share your story below!
-AR
It’s the kind of thing that happens mostly in dreams and Mark Wahlberg movies, but a random fan actually got to fill-in on vocals with one his favorite bands this past weekend. When Bang Tango (and Beautiful Creatures) frontman Joe LeSte was taken ill prior to their November 25th performance in Chicago, a man by the name of TJ did a respectable job taking LeSte’s place for an abbreviated 5 song set. Bang Tango aren’t quite Judas Priest and Joe LeSte ain’t exactly Rob Halford, but this story is still pretty fucking cool. That guy will remember this night forever.
Here’s some fan-filmed footage of TJ performing “Someone Like You” with Bang Tango.
What’s the current status of Beautiful Creatures, anyway? Which third-rate guitarist is currently filling the slot vacated by second-rate GN’R axeman DJ Ashba? Inquiring metal bloggers would like to know.
-VN
These are fun. You guys have been sending in a LOT of links… here’s the best of the best, in this blogger’s humble opinion.
Just a couple of weeks ago the mighty Devin Townsend was praising Jacob Hansen for his work with Fear My Thoughts, and now the band has announced that they’re calling it quits. They’ll apparently play a string of shows in Europe this winter before doing a farewell gig in February.
I was never a huge Fear My Thoughts fan, but I always thought they were a good band, and I particularly enjoyed 2007′s Vulcanus. Join me in mourning the loss by watching a video from that album, “Blankness,” below.
-AR
An anonymous reader tipped us off to the existence of Georgia’s Amecca, a band whose MySpace bio makes the following claim:
Further on the newly developed genre of Albacore, we created the genre as a dedication to some of the most premium food on the planet, Seafood. We also used the creation of a new genre to display the fact that we are different from every other market band. With fast paced death metal riffs and heavy breakdowns merging styles of bands such as Whitechapel and Oceano as well as The Faceless and Veil of Maya. We step away from the popular “Deathcore” scene by titling our songs after seafood platters and bringing awareness to the dying breeds of the Sea.
Now, I think this is worth talking about for the following reason: while it’s clear that these dudes have a sense of humor, they do not have a sense of humor the way I think they should. Allow me to clarify:
I was never really a Dokken fan, but I know my man Anso is; so I think he’d be pretty stoked to see the below video of George Lynch joining Dokken on-stage for the song “In My Dreams.” Which, sadly, is not “Dream Warriors” from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors, which just might be my personal favorite Nightmare flick, and had a really, really awesome video.
And here’s that bitchin’ “Dream Warriors” video I was talking about:
Norma Jean have been playing their excellent Bless Yo Mama and Kill the Chives (or whatever its called) in its entirety on their most recent tour, and I’m hopeful that re-living those songs night after night will give the band back some of the piss n’ vinegar they lost on their last two albums, Redeemer and The Anti Mother, both of which I thought were watered down and missing the sense of “What the fuck will they do next?” that made Bless and O God, the Aftermath so great.
That being said… they’ve also been playing a new song, “Kill More Presidents,” on this tour, and while the usual YouTube bootlegs are all I have to go on, they’re of fairly decent audio quality, and I don’t find the track encouraging. This sounds like more of the fairly typical metalcore stuff the band specialized in on those last two ho-hum outings.
Here’s the first video, which was originally posted on Blabbermouth. There’s another one after the jump. As usual, you can argue about the track in our comments section.
How the fuck did I completely miss the news that Godflesh are reuniting? Over the weekend, reader Nicholas Antonio alerted us to a tweet by Earache Records head honcho Digby Pearson making the announcement that the industrial legends would play this coming summer’s edition of Hellfest; the tweet is apparently from late fucking October, but I don’t remember reading anything about it or receiving any other e-mails about it. Is that just a technical error – did Pearson really send the tweet just a few days ago?
No matter – Hellfest’s official website confirms that Godflesh are, indeed, playing the fest, in what is being dubbed their “only show in Europe.” Assuming that’s true, it might be worth the trip to France, where the festival will take place in June. Vince and I almost went to Hellfest a few years back anyway – and there’s a bunch of other awesome bands playing. Plus, bonus: Kiss are the headliners, which means we can leave early! Hoo-ray!
Anyways, hopefully this show isn’t just a one-off, and will lead to a full tour. More details as we get ‘em. In the meantime, here’s a silly video someone made using one of my favorite Godflesh tunes, “Anthem,” and footage from Jesus Christ Superstar.
-AR
Scott Ian will do just about anything for a buck. It all started with those VH1 talking head appearances and Anthrax’s “reunion” tour with Joey Belladonna… since then he’s lent his face to the failed Nonelouder.com, wrote a comic book, and God knows what else. If nothing else, you’ve got to respect our favorite Big Four Jew for staying motivated.
But this is the last straw. Ian, along with fellow Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano, has teamed up with Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley, and Every Time I Die’s Keith Buckley and bassist David Karon to form the new supergroup The Damned Things. Groan…
Thanks to Mister Booze for drawing attention to two forgotten shred greats, the indomitable Fat Mr. Crab and Uli Con Carne Rotweiler. Vai, Satriani, Thor Shredsteen and Yngwie haven’t got shit on these guys!
Here’s part 1 of their DVD Born to Shred 2: Emotional Playing; Stage Positions and Wild Antics, undoubtedly one the greatest instructional shred videos of all time.
After the jump, Part 2. The part about “slow amps” = gold.
I know they probably didn’t have much of a choice, given that the only songs on their new album, The Great Misdirect, that are under six minutes (“Mirrors” and “Desert of Song”) aren’t really metal and would thus miss the mark in terms of reaching their target audience… but still, props to these dudes for a) not just opting out of making a video altogether, b) not editing this song down to a more Headbanger’s Blech-friendly running time, and c) making a nine-minute plus video that actually remains engaging all the way through. Obviously, director Kevin McVey deserves kudos, too; I’m not really familiar with his other work (which includes a Lizzy Borden video!), but I plan to start doing some homework now.
The Great Misdirect is out now on Victory. It’s friggin’ sweet.
-AR
I assume that the majority of you are all eaten out (!) after your many respective turkey (or tofurkey) fests…
But do any of you actually know the real origin of how Thansgiving got its moniker?
A long time ago, when the Pilgrams were raping and pillaging dem poor Injuns, a boorish chap by the name of William Sanford exclaimed (mid-plunder) to a trembling Native American farmer: “THANKS FER GIVIN US ALL YER LAND, RED MAN!!!!!!!!!!!”
And thus, not only was the name you now know to be Thanksgiving bestowed upon the holiday whence we sit down to stuff our faces with delicious bounty (much like the plethora of food those wacky Pilgrams stole from the Indians)………….but also, the rapper Redman got his name.
ENOUGH ABOUT AMERICA……….it’s time to revere an old favorite — unfortunately one of my 72 hard drives recently futzed out, so I can’t post any tracks per se, but you can go here or here to witness the awesome majesty that was (sad face) UK melodo-tech-mastermindzzz Sikth.
THE BRITISH ARE COMING, THE BRITISH ARE COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!
-KW
One last post before we send off for the holiday… our inboxes are blowing up with links to http://www.ronniejamesdio.com/, which is reporting that Ronnie James Dio has stomach cancer. From Wendy Dio:
Ronnie has been diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer. We are starting treatment immediately at the Mayo Clinic. After he kills this dragon, Ronnie will be back on stage, where he belongs, doing what he loves best, performing for his fans.
Thanks to all the friends and fans around the world that have sent well wishes. This has really helped to keep his spirit up.
The above note implies that because they caught the cancer relatively early, a full recovery is likely. Let’s hope. Ronnie’s a helluva guy and a helluva singer, and we wish him all the best in a speedy recovery.
- The entire MS staff
We’re shuttering the Mansion early this week in celebration of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Axl closed down his Annex hours ago, and I’m bidding farewell to the Vince Division as soon as I finish this here “Worst Week Ever” column. The Monkeys will have to make due on their own ’til Monday.
That’s it. We out. Maybe we’ll do SSTGST and Black Metal Brunch columns. Adios!
-VN
I’ve really been digging The Red Chord’s Fed Through the Teeth Machine lately. REALLY digging it. It was impressive on first listen, sure, but it’s also a grower. I was over in the Axl Annex of the Mansion earlier this week with the vaporizer, and Axl pointed shit out to me that I’d never heard in the music before. Gotta love an album that you’ve listened to a dozen times in which you can still find new shit you’ve never noticed before. This is a record that I found impressive from the get-go, but the more I listen the higher up it goes on my already-crowded year-end list.
Cosmo Lee [Chris Rowella! Thanks guys.] at Invisible Oranges rightly identifies Fed Through the Teeth Machine as a big step up from The Red Chord’s previous effort Prey for Eyes. He also rightly identifies Fed Through the Teeth Machine as fucking awesome, only he uses bigger/more words and actually tells you why he thinks so. Go read his review of the record, and as a bonus stream two tracks from the record over at Invisible Oranges.
Seriously, guys: great fucking record. Don’t be a sucker and miss out.
-VN
Them Crooked Vultures debuted in the Top 20… how ’bout that. Not surprising given the cast of characters, I suppose. MetalSucks guest blogger Devin mothafuckin’ Townsend debuted in the Top 200, while a few other metal releases maintained. It’s all holiday shlock and best-of compilations from hereon out.
[UPDATE: Devin will be calling in to the Metal Injection Livecast tonight at 8pm EST! Make sure you tune in; get details here.]
Soundscan shite after the jump…
