The current run of Down live dates — bloody Phil Anselmo and all — do not include bassist Rex Brown, who has quietly been replaced by Crowbar bassist Patrick Bruders. I’ve searched the Interwebs far and wide (read: one page of Google results) and cannot find any official announcement from Down, Rex or Bruders on the matter, only simple mention of the fact that Bruders is filling Rex’s spot for the forseeable future.

In light of the fact that Brown recently announced the Kill Devil Hill supergroup with Vinnie Appice and Mark Zavon (Ratt,  W.A.S.P., 40 Cycle Hum) and the fact that he recently quit southern alterna-rockers Arms of the Sun, nosy bloggers are left wondering… why isn’t Brown playing with Down right now? Is trouble afoot? MetalAssault.com [via Metal Insider] got right to the point with Rexy Rex at Kill Devil Hill’s live debut this past Friday. If you haven’t the patience for the above 9-minute interview, here’s the money quote:

This is it. I’m not doing any Down. This is my devotion right here. There’s no side gigs, or anything else that’s going on. So this is what it’s going to be for the future.

To me that sounds like Rex Brown is no longer a member of Down… although I’ve been wrong before and certainly will be again. We, citizens of the rumor-mongering metal-verse, demand clarification on the matter! How about it, Down?

-VN

Here’s an interesting excerpt from a recent interview with Sammy Hagar that was conducted by Forbes, your leading source for rock and metal news:

“I was asked at one time to be in Mötley Crüe. I was asked at one time to be in Pantera by their mangers. I was asked to be in Velvet Revolver when Scott Weiland quit and went back to the Stone Temple Pilots. I was waiting to be asked to be in Led Zeppelin to say no, since they were the greatest band on earth and no could replace Robert Plant. I was asked to be in Aerosmith and I said no. Certain bands and certain front man singers are more difficult to replace than others. Steven Tyler and that band have stayed together for forty years and you don’t to walk into something like that. They had one moment years ago, when they replaced Joe Smith, but it’s still always been Steven at the front of Aerosmith. You don’t replace that. When I came into Van Halen, it was easy because Dave wasn’t a great singer, but he was a good front man. In those times, I was selling out the same arena’s they were so it was like the combination of two forces and it worked but it’s a rare thing. We were all lucky that the fans accepted it and it got bigger. I would avoid bands that are going to break up pretty soon.”

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Metal Injection premiered a new video for The Ocean today, “Roots and Locusts,” and while the song is good, holy shit do I have no idea what’s going on in this clip. The edits actually seem well-timed with the music, but the cuts go by so quickly it’s hard to see anything. And what I can see… is there a unifying theme I’m missing, or is it just a bunch of random shit? Someone who’s not me should really go through it frame-by-frame and try to figure it out.

I do really like the thing towards the end with the textbook and the heart, though. That was kinda neat and easy-to-follow.

“Roots and Locusts” comes off The Ocean’s Anthropocentric, which is out now on Metal Blade.

-AR

Last year Periphery guitarist Misha “Bulb” Mansoor penned five excellent columns for MetalSucks in which he explored the finer points of gear nerdery; how to construct a “big” studio tone, how to differ those tones from live tones, and contemplating completely ditching speaker cabinets live were just some of the topics that gave us nerd boners the likes of which haven’t been seen since we saw a hundred Princess Leia costumes at Comic Con. But then Periphery became mega rock stars and lived on the road for months on end, leaving little time for Misha to publicly muse on the inner workings of his Axe-FX.

By now I’m sure you see where this is going: Bulb is back! And he wants to know what YOU want to know with regards to guitars, gear, recording and the like. How does he get that killer snare tone? What kinds of pickups does he use? Why is Periphery such a piece-of-shit band? Now’s your chance to ask Misha whatever guitar/tech-related question is burning a hole in your brain, so ask away and your question just might be answered by the man himself in his next column. Go ahead and troll all you want… he feeds on the stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

- MS dudes

Somewhere between the irresistible “stoner pop” of Torche and the groovy riffs and high vocals of Boy Hits Car lies Lo-Pan, a Columbus, OH outfit whose new album Salvador will be released by stoner stalwarts Small Stone Records on May 24th.

Like both of the aforementioned bands, Lo-Pan specialize in getting in and getting out in a hurry with catchy, concise songs that don’t scrimp of hard-hitting grooves. When a press preview of Salvador hit my inbox last week I pressed play and then actually let the whole album finish; do you know how rare that is for this jaded blogger?

Take that as a hearty endorsement and listen to “El Dorado,” streaming at Noisecreep. Salvador‘s got a lot more where that came from.

-VN

I go to a lot of shows. Like, a LOT — hundreds a year, thanks to my propensity for touring for months on end, traveling to festivals, and just going to gigs at home or elsewhere. I get burnt out sometimes, but invariably I find myself down front (or at least by the bar) several times a week. These past few days were a bit more ridiculous than usual, given that I was bouncing from the Netherlands to the UK to Ireland within the space of a week. I still managed to catch some amazing performances, though, several of whom that once again reaffirmed my firmly-held conviction that live music is the lifesblood of the metal scene.

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From the brain of Egyptian-born, New York-based conceptual artist Nader Sadek comes In the Flesh, a new album that centers on the notion of humanity’s relationship with petroleum and how this exhumation of ancient life forms serves as a self-destructive fuel to society’s greed (a subject that’s near and dear to my heart).

You might already know Sadek from his “impressively twisted” sculptures, masks, and installations for the likes of Mayhem and Sunn O))). In The Flesh marks his recorded debut and sees him collaborating with some of extreme music’s most talented artists: Steve Tucker (vocals, ex-Morbid Angel), Flo Mounier (drums, Cryptopsy), and Rune Eriksen (guitars, Mayhem). The album also features guest appearances by Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Sunn O)))), Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation), Tony Norman (Monstrosity, Terrorizer), Mike Lerner (Behold… The Arctopus), Descructhor (Morbid Angel), and Nick McMaster (Krallice).

In The Flesh sounds a lot like what you’d expect given the cast of characters involved: its constant and deliberately plodding elephants-marching riffs and slow blasts recall Morbid Angel and old Cryptopsy in a big way, drizzled with frosty, cold black metal oil.

Stream “Petrophilia,” (music: Rune Eriksen and Nader Sadek, lyrics: Steve Tucker) below. Watch the video for “Nigredo in Necromance” here. In The Flesh comes out May 17th via Season of Mist.

-VN

It’s true! I thought the Osbourne clan had simply been approached by some talented young filmmaker who was interested in doing an honest, no-holds-barred documentary on Ozzy’s life and, through sheer coincidence, just happened to share the same last name as the famous vocalist. But as it turns out, the resulting film, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne (which recently screened at the Tribeca Film Festival), might — and I emphasize the word “might,” because I don’t think it’s fair to call this one just yet — but it just might be an act of nepotism.

But the younger Osbourne is apparently aware of the pratfalls of sticking too close to his clan — and so now Metal Injection tells me that Jack is working on his follow-up to God Bless…, a project which will finally distance him accusations that he owes all his success to his celebrity father: a horror film entitled Black Sabbath, which, Osbourne’s producer Marc Weingarten assures fans, will feature some of the band’s music, but is “not about the band.”

I’m really glad to see Jack striking out on his own, distancing himself from his family, and trying to make it on his own merits. People have been giving this guy shit about his last name for too long. I’m sure making a horror movie that just happens to have the same name as the band that made his father famous will finally shut up people and get them to judge Jack based solely on his own talents. Good for him!

-AR

I’m sure I don’t have to explain what a vocal exercise is to you fine folks, because while some of you are really dumb, I don’t think any of you are that dumb.

Okay, some of you might be that dumb. But I’m still not going to explain it. If you don’t know what vocal exercises are, stop reading this site immediately and go lie down in traffic. Or at least just Google it.

ANYWAY, I’m sure there are death metal vocalists who do warm-ups before performing and/or recording, but I would imagine they’re not like the ones that Deals Death vocalist Olle Ekman is doing in the video below. Although it would pretty funny to watch, say, Corpsegrinder do this before every Cannibal Corpse show.

I wish I enjoyed Deals Death’s music as much as I enjoyed this video.

-AR

Thanks to Charlie for the tip!

In March we found out that Converge were working on a split 7″ with Dropdead; now, thanks to Lambgoat, we know the release date of that split — June 21 — and the title of the Converge song that will appear on the album — “Runaway.” Despite my greatest wishes, there is currently no evidence that this is a cover of the classic Bon Jovi album.

And, uh, that’s it, really. We get one new Converge song in 2011. Hey, beats nothing!

I don’t have a pre-order link or anything, but if you keep your eyes peeled to the Deathwish website, I’m sure something will pop up sooner or later.

-AR

Dark Castle. I know there are people who go absolutely gaga over this band, but… I just don’t hear it. I don’t even really have anything negative to say about the band… they just don’t… they don’t… geez, I’m trying to avoid typing “They don’t hit me on a gut level” because that is such a cliché, but I honestly can’t think of another way to put it right now. They don’t impale aardvark babies to my ears? I dunno.

But I’m curious to hear what you cats think. Dark Castle have a new song, “I Hear Wind,” currently streaming at Invisible Oranges. Cosmo Lee is typically elegant when discussing his own passion for the band’s music: “On record, Dark Castle was once potential,” he writes. “Now the band is force, moving and writhing with a desire so vibrant that it practically grips listeners and shakes them.” Man, I wish I felt that way when I heard this song! That sounds like an awesome feeling to have. Maybe I have to see the band live to really “get it.”

ANYWAY, check out the song here and let us know what you think in the comments section. “I Hear Wind” comes off of Dark Castle’s latest, Surrender to All Life Beyond Form, which comes out May 31 on Profound Lore.

-AR

Corey Taylor and Joey Jordison have basically been contradicting one another in the press for months, with Jordison telling anyone who will listen that Slipknot will live on without Paul Gray, and Taylor telling anyone who asks that he’s not so sure. Now Metal Insider tells us that, in a recent video interview (above), Jordison has gone so far as to say that not only will Slipknot continue with Gray, but if necessary, it will continue without Taylor, too:

“You know what?! That’s for him to answer. As far as I’m concerned, Slipknot’s my baby and I have a bunch of songs written. And I’m in rehearsal right now with all the guys and it’s completely on fire. Donnie [Steele, Gray's replacement]’s doing a great job. And as far as Slipknot’s concerned, it’ll always exist — with or without [Taylor]. So that’s it.”

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In news that should shock no one , following last week’s highly-discussable first-ever U.S. Big Four (I’ve decided I’m not writing “Big 4″ anymore, no matter what the posters say. I’m a grown up and I can take 2 extra seconds to actually type out a number.*) show, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax have announced another concert — this one on the East Coast. It will take place at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, September 14.

A Wednesday in September. What a bunch of fucking assholes.

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