Over at his new site The Number of the Blog, longtime reader groverXIII has observed that the cover of the new Dark Tranquillity album, We are the Void, looks an awful lot like goatse. And while it hadn’t occurred to me before, I think he’s dead-on correct. Check it out:
First show of the the new year for me proved to be a great one. Local black metallers Woe, who recently signed to Candlelight Records, opened the night up a little early with hypnotizing riffage, closing the set with “Condemned with Prey.” In spite of the starting times having been changed, Woe’s creator Chris Grigg commented, “Despite the venue’s unprofessional decision to make us play 40 minutes prior to the advertised start of the show, we are confident that those who were in attendance were suitably deafened and offended.”
Next up, Metal Blade’s Lightning Swords of Death proclaimed their evil with gauntlets on and shirts off. Definitely one of the most epic performances I’ve seen in a while. Septic Flesh were welcomed to the stage by the ever-growing crowd as they expertly melded live music with pre-recorded
backing vocal and synth tracks, making the more intoxicated audience members scream for more in a pretty demanding way. The photo pit started getting crowded at this point, so I apologize for a lack of shots of the drummer.
As the kids began getting antsy, a chorus of “BE-HE-MOTH” chants began to rise from the floor, finally erupting in a wave of guttural screaming once the band finally took stage. While some kids just head-banged, otherss found it necessary to run around like oafs, knocking each other down, spinning, and generally being meatheads.
Photos after the jump.
…and that omen said it will come out May 4 on Roadrunner. And that it will feature guest appearances from The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato, Prong’s Tommy Victor, and (on b-side covers) Igor Cavalera and Zyon Cavalera. And, oh yeah, that it will be called Omen.
I’ve never liked Soulfly as much as I love Sepultura, but I did really enjoy Dark Ages, and the one time I caught the band live, they slayed. So while I’d much rather have a new Cavalera Conspiracy record, color me curious to hear this.
I’m less curious to hear the cover of “Refuse/Resist,” featuring the aforementioned Zyon Cavalera. Why does anyone ever cover their own song? The results are almost always disasterous – just ask Chuck Mosley or Slash…
-AR
I gotta hand it to Behemoth front-growler/guitarist Nergal… for a guy who looks like this to land a woman who looks like this, dude must have some kind of shvantz packed away inside those armor-covered leather pants. In case you missed the news this summer, that fine broad is Dorota Rabczewska aka Polish pop phenom Doda. Dig her new video for “Nie Daj Się” below (or in higher quality on YouTube), sent in by Suckalo Hetal Bhatt. It ain’t metal but at the very least it should provide some eye candy to make your day a little brighter.
I think a hearty round of cheers are in order for our boy Nergal. Well done, sir!
-VN
You’re Ben Weinman, you’re a genius, and for whatever reason, you’re remixing a Bring Me the Horizon song. What the hell are you supposed to do with it?
Change it to the point where’s it’s not at all recognizable, that’s what.
An anonymous reader sent me this video, which plays BMTH’s original “I’ve Read About Girls Like You On the Backs of Toilet Doors” side-by-side with Weinman’s remix, which is really just a completely different song with a few samples taken from the original. As a matter of fact, for most of the “remix,” it sounds like you could be listening to outtakes from some of the Aphex Twinier moments of Ire Works (“Sick on Sunday,” the intro to “Dead as History,” etc.). And that’s a good thing.
-AR
The Super Amazing Orgasm Tour has kicked off, which means that Mr. Devin Fucking Townsend is now tearing up stages for the first time in more than three years. The show doesn’t pass through NYC ’til the end of the month, but Blabbermouth posted some bootleg footage of Heavy Devy and his band performing, so I get to live vicariously through someone’s cellphone.
I was wondering how Mr. Townsend was going to handle the live absence of Anneke van Giersbergen, whose vocals are such a vital part of why Addicted kicks so much ass, and apparently the answer is play some of them via tape, sing some of them himself, and spend part of the time being the goofy front-dude we all know and love. Works for me.
Here’s “Supercrush,” which is my favorite song on Addicted. It sounds so good it makes me wanna engage in heavy kissing. But not just, like, regular kissing – sex kissing.
Get a list of remaining dates to see Devin with Between the Buried and Me, Cynic, and Scale the Summit after the jump. And Blabbermouth has some more live footage for ya, too.
Rumor no more. The speculation that E1 Records has signed Black Label Society was put to rest Friday evening by Noisecreep in a post so official that it even has a quote from the label!
As Axl observed last week, E1′s been gobbling up established metal bands like Burger Conquest‘s Rev gobbles up delicious bun-encased meat patties so it seems like a good match on paper. What remains in question is whether Zakk Wylde will continue to shit out stock BLS riffs and repackage them as new albums or whether he’ll actually try something different this time around. If ever there were a time for Wylde to change it up a bit I’d think now would be that time; having recently been shit-canned from Ozzy’s band, Wylde’s gotta have a whole lot of pent up aggression (and riffs) and could be feeling a bit restless, musically speaking.
Though Wylde’s output for both BLS and Ozzy has been shoddy lately, we’re still massive fans of the man and would love to see his incredible talent shine once agan. We’ll find out when the new BLS record drops on E1, tentatively this coming summer.
-VN
It’s unclear yet whether Axl will be able to un-bury himself from the cavalcade of hookers I’ve sent into the Axl Annex of the MS Mansion today. I think he said something about wanting to post a little bit today despite the depression induced by being one day closer to death, but he’s not returning my pneumatic tube messages and the smell of cheap perfume is so overwhelming I can’t get within 50 feet of his door. I’ma try and send Higgins over there to see wassup but at the very least you MS faithfaul will be able to enjoy some QT with good ol’ Uncle Vince today.
Happy birthday, Axl!
-VN
Okay, so reader Ryan Banjamin sent this video in last night, and, wow, did it just about make my week. I have absolutely no clue why these kids made this video, but I’d be shocked if you told me that they were actual Attack Attack! fans. As a piece of satire, the video is a little-one noted… but what a note it is! I was sold by the time the “band” perfectly imitated AA!’s synchronized jump at the 1:35 mark.
One thing I would definitely have changed, though, had this been an Axl Rosenberg joint: I would have made the chick playing the keyboardist fill the role of the lead singer. ‘Cause let’s be real here, y’know?
-AR
My last blog was fucking hilarious. I mean, really. It was good. No, it was better than good. It was great. Besides some of my blogs that have nothing to do with metal (Susan Boyle) I was able to write something that wasn’t serious at all. And again, it was completely hilarious. The best part of the blog was -
Half of you mother-fuckos didn’t even get it!
And Jesus, it was sad. I mean, come the fuck on. What are you guys paying attention to? One of my choices for my year end list was Joe Duplantier – For being ‘better than everyone else.’ Oh… and one of my favorites: Ivan Moody’s ‘VOICE’ from FFDP. His voice! His god damn voice?
Wake up, you assholes!
Click to read more…
Readers’ Choice submissions have been coming in by the boatload lately but I swear I listen to every single one.. it’s a compulsion I can’t resist. Here are a few favorites from the last several weeks:
According to a tip sent in by Suckalo Leanne Fischler, legendary dope smokers Sleep appear to be looking to do a U.S. tour in 2010. The tip comes from a blog announcement on Sleep’s MySpace’s page titled “Booking info,” in which the text simply reads”
“Sleep booking inquiries can be sent to: john@groundcontroltouring.com”
Which would seem to indicate that the band is looking to tour… right? The text sits on top of the above flyer for the band’s appearance at All Tomorrow’s Parties New York, a 3-day festival to be held in upstate New York this coming September. So while it’d be a stretch to say a Sleep tour is definitely happening, it’s certainly not a stretch at all to say it’s quite likely.
I’m not sure whether the ATP appearance was already announced before this blog, but it’d definitely make sense for Sleep to do a bigger tour surrounding their ATP date. It’s worth noting, though, that with a new High on Fire album on the way Matt Pike might have touring commitments to take care of with his main squeeze.
-VN
Hey kids. I saw some videos on Blabbermouth this morning by bands I’ve never heard of before. Watch those videos and get my thoughts after the jump.
I’ve never heard of Seattle’s 7 Horns 7 Eyes before (and their members actually have ten eyes and no horns, no good lying bastards), but any band that Nevermore’s Jeff Loomis would deign to record a guest solo has to be worthwhile, right? Unless the just paid Loomis an assload of cash – but considering they’re still unsigned, that seems unlikely.
Here’s some pretty awesome footage of Loomis recording the aforementioned solo at his home. Just watching him work shit out is pretty fascinating stuff.
After you’ve watched this, check out 7 Horns 7 Eyes and let us know if you think they’re awesome, or if one of them must be secretly related to Loomis.
-AR
Fight Amp’s new album Manners and Praise came out on Translation Loss and Brutal Panda this past Fall, a steaming brew of stoner grooves and punk rock energy. We’ve got an exclusive download of the crushing “Faith in Man” from that album which you’re welcome to listen to or download for the cost of air! The band are currently on a nation criss-crossing tour of the U.S., the dates for which you can check out on Fight Amp’s MySpace page. Enjoy the tuneage below.
[this promotion has ended]
-VN
Earlier this week, the organizers behind Virginia’s annual United Blood festival announced a preliminary list of the bands scheduled to perform at its fourth installment, which runs once again at Alleykatz in Richmond from March 26th through the 27th. For lovers of hardcore young and old, the lineup should seem damn impressive.
Never been an Enthroned fan, never been an Enthroned hater. Black metal was most certainly the last sub-genre of metal I got into (unless you count nu-rap-whatever-metal, because I never actually got into that), mostly because I always felt like if you wore make-up on stage, you should be singing about pussy, not Satan. But it’s 2o10 and my New Year’s resolutions include going to the gym more, getting Sacha the Death Metal Puppy to stop being such a little evil bastard, and spending more time blogging about bands that have never had Dave Mustaine in their line-up.
So while word of the streaming of a new Enthroned song, “The Vitalized Shell,” didn’t instantly get my blood pumping, I know it will excite a lot of you. It comes of the band’s new album, Pentagrammaton, which comes out March 22 on Regain.
And, hey!, ya know what? I’m actually really digging it. And I can’t really understand what Nornagest (who is Cronos’ cousin… really?) is saying, so for all I know, the song is about pussy.
-AR
Okay, so in case you somehow don’t know, Cobalt vocalist Phil McSorley’s day job is being a sergeant in the U.S. army, which automatically gives him +10,000,000 street cred points. Little wonder that the band’s latest album, Gin, received accolades up the ass – there’s no way in fuck you can accuse Cobalt of being tough guys poseurs.
So. Here’s McSorley on Fox News’ Red Eye. I have a really hard time watching Fox News because I’m a crazy liberal (or so your e-mails and comments keep telling me) and all the yelling and graphics give me a headache. But I managed to make it through this entire clip. The start is almost surreal as the hosts make incredibly awkward attempts to rock out before introducing McSorley, Greg Gutfeld seems a little too happy to learn about Gin‘s dark lyrical themes. But McSorley never comes across as anything other than articulate and intelligent. That’s the kind of image both metal and the army want to be sending out right now.
Gin is out now on Profound Lore.
-AR
GREETINGS HUMAN SCUM, IT IS I, ME, THE LORD AND MASTER OF THIS AND EVERY OTHER WORLD I CAN THINK OF, YOUR HOST WITH THE MOST (COCK), ODERUS URUNGUS OF THE MIGHTY GWAR! AND WHAT FOLLOWS IS MY FIRST OFFICIAL COMMUNIQUE OF THIS FELGLING DECADE, TAKING THE FORM OF YOUR PATHETIC ENTREATIES REGARDING A HOST OF MATTERS BOTH PERTINENT AND OBSCURE. THAT’S RIGHT, ONCE AGAIN IT IS TIME FOR THE UNPARALELLED AWESOMOSITY THAT IS “ASK ODERUS”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oderus. I was wondering if the revelation of Lady GaGa being a tranny has altered your desire to make intergalactic relations with him/her/it. Also has “Pokerface” gone from annoying to slightly disturbing? How many Lady GaGa dongs would it take to make you vomit all over yourself?
I SEE IMMEDIATELY THAT YOU ARE ACTUALLY TRYING TO SNEAK THREE QUESTIONS IN HERE… AND THREE STUPID ONES AT THAT. I MEAN HERE YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO TALK TO GOD AND YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT LADY GA-GA… PLUS YOU ARE TRYING TO CHEAT! BUT DESPITE THE ABSOLUTE WORTHLESSNESS OF YOUR QUESTIONS (AND THEREFORE, YOU…), I WILL ANSWER ALL THREE OF THEM.
1) No.
2) No.
3) I PUKE AT WILL SO I SUPPOSE THE ANSWER WOULD BE SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN ZERO AND INFINITY, DEPENDING ON WHAT KIND OF MOOD I WAS IN…
Thanks to reader Steven Stamopoulos for reminding us that original Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark died nineteen years ago today. That means that a significant portion of our readers weren’t even born yet when he died, which makes me feel old.
Clark’s death was tragic and a colossal waste of talent – the guy who was a terrible alcoholic who basically drank himself to death (with the aid of prescription meds) – but there’s no denying that he was a driving creative force behind the incredibly awesome pop metal Def Lep made in the 80s and early 90s. Before he died, he co-wrote about half the songs on 1992′s Adrenalize, which was basically the last worthwhile album the band ever made. The only things that really changed following Adrenalize‘s release was the absence of Clark and producer Mutt Lange, and I’d argue that both of those losses really, really hurt the band. (Anyone who tries to defend Vivian Campbell is a taint-licker.)
Here’s Clark a decade before his death, when Phil Collen wasn’t in the band yet, Joe Elliot was still blond, and Rick Allen still had both his arms . I love this song, and eat me if you don’t.
-AR
