Well, not quite… but the announcement that the label has signed “videogame metallers” Powerglove does come as something of a surprise.

E1 has built up a business model over the past 3 years predicated on signing established metal acts that already have a fanbase of a certain size or greater — see: In Flames, Overkill, Hatebreed, Darkest Hour, High on Fire, Satyricon, Kittie — and while the label has taken a couple of stabs at developing new metal acts, they’ve largely missed (see: Arkaea and Dirge Within). The notable exceptions are Straight Line Stitch — who, though we may hate to admit it, have built something of a following for themselves in states that voted for Bush in ’00 and ’04 — and Zoroaster, who have yet to release an album on the label.

But I like when labels take chances, and signing a band like Powerglove should definitely be considered a chance for a label that specializes on signing sure things.

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As much as I love (most) hair metal and loathe (most) nu-metal, I do have to admit that there seems to be some unspoken ongoing competition between the two genres – not to see which one can sell the most records (I suspect that hair metal wins in that regard, given that those bands’ reign lasted longer, and occurred in a purely pre-internet error), but, rather, which genre can ultimately embarrass itself more. And while you’d think that any genre that routinely invited DJs in the fold would pretty much win in a cakewalk, some days I really do think that, nope, hair metal has more idiots.

For example: remember when some former members of Snot tried to re-form that group even though Lynn Strait is dead, and then, when that didn’t work out, they decided to reform under the name “Tons,” which, all you Einsteins will surely notice, is just “Snot” spelled backwards? That was pretty dumb, right? It would be hard to imagine a stupider scenario in which former members of a famous band try to re-form under a different name, but are sure to choose one that lets everyone know their point of origin.

But if you can’t imagine a stupider scenario, it’s not because you’re lacking in creativity; it’s simply because you’re not stupid enough. But Chris Holmes is stupid enough. He some other former members of W.A.S.P. have formed Where Angels Suffer, or – yep yep! – W.A.S.

They named their band “W.A.S.” Just let that sink in for a minute.

I almost feel bad for these dudes who are so desperately clinging to the glories of their past just to put food on the table, but then again, this:

-AR

Well, no, not really. But Velvet Revolver do accompany her on “Kissed It,” a new track from her forthcoming album The Sellout. (Hm. Interesting title.) And by “Velvet Revolver,” I mean, “The track listing says “featuring Velvet Revolver,” but of the four current members of that band, only three appear.

Guess which one doesn’t?

Click to read more…

We got a ridiculous number of e-mails this weekend about the below video, which was made by guitarist Raz Ben Ari. But I’m glad you all dig it so much, as it demonstrates that all these various genres aren’t as different from one another as some people would have you believe. In other words: the path to peace is to concentrate on what makes us similar, not what makes us different, y’know? Or something like that.

-AR

I’m not sure how Primal Fear have slipped under my radar all these years given my undying love of Iron Maiden and my recent exploration/fascination of/with Euro Power/Epic Metal cheese, but all it took was one note of last night’s headline set at NYC’s Gramercy Theater… and I was sold, hook line and sinker. Dork metal to the max; dorks of every kind, everywhere, more Iced Earth shirts than I’ve ever seen in one place ever other than an Iced Earth show, and somewhat shockingly a slew of hot older babes turned out to catch this German band’s U.S. tour kickoff (with Havok). So ridiculous, so epic, so Maiden-y, so Priest-y, so…. awesome. I loved it. Words cannot express.

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Until last year, I had no idea what a frickin Juggalo was. And I’m still pretty goddamn perplexed by the whole scene…..whwhwhwhy???

I always knew that the Insane Clown Posse existed but (for obvious reasons) avoided their klown-a-verse like a 3-ring plague. And now that I’ve finally heard their “music” I can wholeheartedly say that they are straight-up terrible — I can only imagine how retarded the fans who are buying this po-dunk rap shtick must be. Yeah I said it, no secret how awful this ICP nonsense is…….COME ON!!!!!!

And yet I can’t help but ponder that if this world was a just place, the most appropriate soundtrack for a band with demented circus leanings should be BUNGLE.

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of that first amazing Mr. Bungle album, and it still sounds as revolutionary and fresh as ever. Required listening for Mike Patton fans.

The entire Mr. Bungle debut album after the jump.  Bigtop this, bitches.

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Dio died. Isis broke-up. Bret Michaels is back in the hospital. And I just used Dio, Isis, and Bret Michaels in one thought-stream, which, I’m sure, offended somebody.

Luckily, we did manage to have some fun this week:

• Sick of it All’s Lou Koller is counting down his top ten hardcore albums, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa is counting down to the end of L O S T, Batillus’ Fade Kainer is counting down ’til the band can get the fuck outta the studio, Agenda of Swine’s Pete Benumb is counting down to MDF, and Cynic’s Paul Masvidal is counting down to achieving a higher level of being.
• We spoke to Steve Joh from Century Media, Tara Johnson from Disembodied, Emil Werstler from Daath and Levi/Werstler, and Travis Stever from Coheed & Cambria.
• We checked out the latest release from Rosetta.
• Sergeant D. has new slamz 4 u.
• The best music video ever of the week is by… Goldfrapp?
• There are plenty of things we’d rather do than listen to a new Attack Attack! song.
• Endorsement of the new Avenged Sevenfold single = flame war.
• You guys are still arguing about my Korn review. Seriously?
• I’m still upset about John Bush leaving Anthrax again. Seriously.
• We used to love Sweden, but we had to kill it.

And hopefully no one awesome will die or break-up next week.

-AR

We’re just one week away from Maryland Deathfest 2010, which will take place from May 28-30 in (duh) Baltimore, Maryland. This year’s edition of the annual fest promises to be the best one yet, with a line-up that includes Gorguts, Autopsy, Obituary, Entombed, Sodom, Repulsion, D.R.I., and a ton of other kick-ass bands. In anticipation of the event, we thought it would be fun to get some recollections of past MDFs from artists who were there. So we’re teaming up with Relapse Records to do just that! Read the raucous inaugural entry by Matt from Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, memories of a jam-packed day from Tomas Lindberg of Disfear (and At the Gates), how Pete Benumb of Agenda of Swine got swindled, and the latest entry from John of Weekend Nachos, below.

Least memorable thing about MDF 2009:

I saw Bolt Thrower play and not one single person moshed. This, to me, was a travesty. The fact that some of the hardest music of all time is being played and metalheads are too boring to even move their dirty feet is beyond insane to me.

I doubt it mattered either way to Bolt Thrower, considering they were up there doing their thing and being evil as fuck no matter what and totally blowing everybody away, but still… if this were a room full of hardcore kids you would’ve seen some serious blood in the pit. Major letdown. I expect violence during a band like Bolt Thrower. Even some old man push-mosh would’ve been better than nothing! Pantera and Slayer shows at least have old dudes being ignorant and beating each others’ brains out.

- John, Weekend Nachos

When you tune into the premiere broadcast of The Second Annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards tomorrow night on VH1 classic, you’ll see the final public appearance of our beloved Ronnie James Dio. You’ll also see Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez of Alice In Chains, winner of roughly half of the meaningful awards, enjoying the metal community’s validation of their potentially dicey comeback effort, the magnificent Black Gives Way To Blue. You’ll see metal codgers like Rob Halford, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, and Lemmy bathe in much-deserved adulation. You’ll also see potentially ho-hum performances pumped up by mega-drummers: Rob Zombie with Joey Jordison (in his debut performance), Fear Factory with Gene Hoglan, Brian Posehn with John Tempesta (and Brett Anderson girl call me srsly) and Slash with Dave Grohl.

But at a mere 60 minutes, the broadcast can’t capture all of the April 8 event’s super moments and silly gaffes. Here’s a few things you won’t see:

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Shitty picture that does not do this awesome band justice courtesy of my iPhone

So as I mentioned yesterday, Vince and I went to check out Havok live for the first time last night. It was the inaugural date of their supporting stint for Primal Fear, and apparently lead guitar player Shawn Chavez quit the band the day they had to hit the road, which meant that vocalist/guitarist David Sanchez had to screamble to learn all the solos and make sure the band could still put on a proper show, and not have to cancel this tour.

And while I never saw the band with Chavez, I gotta say, I didn’t miss him.

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To celebrate the release of Sick of it All’s awesome new album, Based on a True Story, we asked SOIA vocalist Lou Koller to compile the definitive list of quintessential hardcore albums. Luckily for us and all of you, he agreed! So we’ll be running one entry a day from Lou’s list of the top-ten (+1) hardcore records of all time for the next couple of weeks. You can read his first installment here, his second installment here, and his third installment here, and his fourth installment here; the fifth one is after the jump…

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Remember back in March, when we found out that Horse the Band are releasing a six DVD/photo book set from their Earth Tour? Well, they’re only going to be available as a pre-order, because it ain’t cheap to make ‘em. And the ABSOLUTE DEADLINE FOR THOSE ORDERS IS MAY 24. After that, if you want one, tough luck.

In case you forget what comes with this bad boy, it’s five DVDs consisting of a FOURTEEN HOUR LONG “main feature,” then a live DVD, PLUS a photobook. That’s a lot of HTB goodness.

You can order a set here. It’s a pay-what-you like system, with a minimum cost of $79, which seems reasonable to me, considering what you’re getting. You can also seem some previews and get additional details here.

And in case you never have before, you really should read the  “Horse the Blog” bits that HTB keyboardist Lord Gold did for us. They’re friggin’ hilarious.

-AR

He didn’t. He’s probably never heard of ICP. And if he has, he probably laughed, and then promptly forgot about them and went home to roll around in his giant piles of money.

But nobody tell this nitwit:

I wanna stop making fun of the Juggalos… I honestly do… but they just keep making it so goddamn easy. STOP BEING SO RETARDED, JUGGALOS, SO I CAN SHUT UP ABOUT YOU ALEADY.

-AR

[via RiB]

So br00tal. I’ll bet he makes a killer smoked salmon.

[via Metal Inquisition]

-VN

Ryan Schutte sent us an e-mail with the following subject line:

better then black dahlia could ever ever hope to be

There was no text in the e-mail besides a link to the below song, “Ever Again,” by the now-defunct As Eden Burns. Ignoring Mr. Schutte’s grammatical errors, I gave it a listen…

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Endre Pál – or “palendre,” as he’s known on YouTube – is the guitar player for an incredibly cheesy Hungarian band called Sub-Zero, apparently along with his grandson and his grandson’s friends. Guess which which one is Endre:

If you guessed the troll in the front, the lurking dude in the back, or the aging Damn Yankees devotee on the far left, you guessed wrong. (I have nothing particularly funny to say baout the dude on the far right.) But if you guessed the smiling dude with white hair, well, go watch some internet porn to reward yourself for being so clever.

And the thing is, as awful as Sub-Zero are – and let’s be real, this band is abysmal – I have to commend Endre for being way, way cooler than anyone I currently know who is his age. To wit, these videos of him covering various metal classics:

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On April 12, Bret Michaels was rushed to the hospital to have an emergency appendectomy; ten days later, he was rushed back to the hospital after suffering a subarachnoid hemorrhage. But then he was released and the doctors cleared him and said he’d make a “full recovery,” and now he’s on the cover of People lying in the hospital with his bandana on and joking around with Oprah Winfrey and announcing plans for new reality shows and blah blah blah. So the rough times are over for Bret, right? Nothing but smooth sailing from here.

Except maybe not so much: yesterday, he was rushed back to the hospital after experiencing a so-called “warning stroke” that numbed portions of the left side of his body. And when doctors investigated, they came to realize that the man has a hole in his heart.

Holy shit, this poor dude just cannot catch a break.

Click to read more…

By the time the Syracuse, NY outfit Unholy released New Life Behind Closed Eyes in early 2009, “metalcore” had long come to mean to me “third generation Swedish riff rip-offs with cheesy clean singing and an over-reliance on breakdowns” in popular parlance… so when Unholy came along with an album of actual metalcore — brutally complex metal riffs mixed with a punishing hardcore sensibility — the public at large shrugged. But the public at large missed out, because New Life Behind Closed Eyes is a fantastic record full of one memorable song after the next that indulges in absolutely zero of the cliches that made “metalcore” into a bad word. The album unfortunately didn’t get its due from the largely apathetic metal tastemaker crowd, but man… it’s a doozy.

Here’s a video of Unholy playing album-opener “Seeker Immortal” in their hometown of Syracuse, NY. Check out some more Unholy tuneage at their MySpace page.

-VN

God hates fags, Dio, and a decent fashion sense.

We’ve been flooded with e-mails this morning from fans who have been outraged to learn that the Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket Dio’s public memorial service on May 30. And while protesting at a memorial service is certainly disrespectful, “outrage” is not the feeling that bubbled up inside of me when I heard the news. Oh no. The feeling was more like… amusement. Why, you ask? Well, because I don’t see how anyone can take these clowns seriously. To wit:

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Kerry King hopes this summer’s brief Big Four Euro-tour comes to America and the rest of the world, but he can shit in one hand and hope in the other and see which one fills up first, as the saying goes; why take the risk? This morning I woke up to an e-mail alerting me to the fact that one of the Sonsiphere shows, on June 22, is going to be simulcast live into movie theaters throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe.

The idea of sitting through a metal concert in a movie theater strikes me as a pretty iffy proposition – I mean, are you supposed to try and rock out, or sit there and eat your popcorn, or what the fuck…? – and tickets are even pricier than for a normal movie (eighteen bucks here in New York), but… oh, fuck it, who am I kidding? Of course I’m gonna to this if I can.

Check out the complete listing of times and theaters here. And the trailer is below…

-AR